Father Figure
by lil-rock14
Summary: Nobody automatically knows how to be a dad. And you don’t need to have a good relationship with your father to be a good one. Flackcentric
1. Chapter 1

**Father Figure**

**I don't know much about CSI: New York except for the episodes I've seen in the first and second season. This is my first try at a CSI: New York story. From what I've seen, Don Flack, there isn't much said about Don and his personal or familial life—except for 'The Fall'. So this is that kind of story… hopefully. At this point I have an idea and if the story and idea are gonna coexist… at this point, who knows. On to the story. It's gonna start off before the Season 2 Finale.**

Summary: Nobody automatically knows how to be a dad. And don't need to have a good relationship with your father to be a good one. Flack-centric

**Disclaimer: I own Gabriella (Ella) and her mom, Natalie. I also own Charlie, but I don't really want him.**

Donald Flack Jr. walked down the hallway to his apartment on a Thursday evening, whistling a happy tune. He was happy. He didn't have to chase a perp down any alleys. He didn't have to draw his gun. The case he was on was solved in a snap thanks to the CSIs. All he had to do was the interrogation which was simple enough. Because of the simplicity, he was happy.

But he was hungry. He clocked out and along with Danny and a few other people went down to a bar to grab a few drinks to celebrate a finished case. But usually when they had drinks, they didn't eat. And usually that meant that Don would go home hungry.

And there he was, standing outside of his front door. Happy, but hungry.

He could hear some muffled noises through the door and smiled. "Like clockwork," he said. He took his keys out of his pocket and opened the door to his place.

He stepped in and saw a six-year-old little girl sitting on his couch with the television on. She giggled at something that happened on the show, obviously not hearing Don just walk in. Don smiled at the little girl and closed the door. She turned her head and jumped up from the couch. "Hi, Mr. Flack. You're home a little earlier than usual."

"Hey, Ella. I told you before, it's Don or Flack. Not Mr. Flack. That's my father."

"Sorry."

Ella stood up and walked over to the kitchen where Don was. He unbuttoned his jacket, hung it on the hook on the wall, and threw his keys on the counter. "So what have I missed?" he asked pointing to the TV.

"Nothing much. It's a rerun. Still funny though." She stood at his side. He picked her up and put her on the counter separating the living room from the kitchen. "Oh, I made you a sandwich. It's in the fridge."

"Why thank you," he replied. "What, you knew I was coming home early and hungry so you made me something?"

He opened the fridge and found a huge sandwich looking back at him. He smiled. He took out the sandwich and a soda. He also held a juice box out to her, but she shook her head to say 'no thanks'. He shrugged and set everything down. "You're welcome. And no. I just made it because I thought maybe you'd like a snack, but if you weren't coming home, I was gonna eat it."

"Any chips?"

"On the counter."

"You're on the counter. Ella, you are sitting on my chips are you?" he joked.

He sauntered over to her and started to tickle her. She squirmed and squealed to get out of his grasp. Through her laugher she said, "No." She reached out and gave him a small bag of chips.

"Ella, you are too good to me. Where would I be without you?"

He picked her up and put her on the ground. She took the bag of chips and walked over to the couch. Don followed her with the sandwich on a plate in one hand, and the soda in the other. He placed them both on the coffee table in front of his couch and took a seat next Ella. She changed the channel to something that had to do with sports. Most likely the replays because that's the only thing that was on that late at night. She knew Don very well, and she didn't mind watching sports that much either. "It's nothing," she said. "I just use the stuff that mom buys and stuffs your fridge and pantry with. 'Cause she says you never eat. And I always eat here. I don't know what she's talking about when she says you never eat 'cause all I ever see you do is eat."

Don let out a short laugh. "I'll thank her too then. Have you eaten already?" Ella nodded in response. "Taken a shower?" She nodded again. "Done your homework?"

"Yeah. It was too easy." Don was proud of the little girl sitting next to him. She was independent and intelligent. "How was work?" she asked, her eyes fixated on the show.

"Finished a case," he replied, forgetting for a second that he was talking to a six-year-old.

"That's good," she said, her eyes still not leaving the screen.

"You don't understand what that means, do you?" he asked with a smile on his face.

She turned at looked at him, her eyes wide. "Nope. But you sound happy. And it's good when you're happy."

Don picked up the sandwich and took a bite out of it. He took a sip of his soda before he continued talking. "How was school?"

"Fun," she replied opening the bag of chips and eating one.

"School's fun nowadays?"

"No."

They both laughed and continued to watch the show on TV. Half an hour into the show, Ella handed the bag of chips over to Don, kissed him on the forehead, and fell asleep on the couch. He walked into his room and took out a blanket and draped it over her. He continued to watch the show being mindful of the time.

Nine thirty came around and he sighed. He pushed his sleeve down after looking at his watch for probably the fiftieth time. "Natalie, where are you? I still gotta shower," he said anxiously.

Natalie was Ella's mother, and usually she picked up her daughter at nine fifteen. And if she was going to be late, she would give Don a call. But there was no call. So Don waited.

A few minutes later, he heard a knock on the door. He walked over to open it and on the other side, saw a woman who looked like she had just ran up the entire flight of stairs to get where she was. Her black, usually straight hair was disheveled, her purse kept slipping off her shoulder, and she was breathing hard. "Hey, Don. I'm so sorry I'm late. I would have called, but my stupid phone fell and I don't know how to fix it."

"It's fine, Nat," he replied. "She's sleeping already."

Natalie moved to peek around the tall figure in the doorway and smiled. "Oh, good," she replied when she saw her daughter asleep on the couch.

"Come inside and talk with me for awhile," Don said.

"No, I couldn't. I need to get her to bed."

"She's fine on the couch for now. Have you had anything to eat? Your daughter makes a great sandwich."

"That she does. And yes I have. Thanks for offering though."

"Come on, I'll get you something to drink." Natalie walked into Don's apartment and Don followed her. He got her a soda from the fridge and grabbed a cup of ice. She took a seat at his dinner table and he took a seat across from her. He didn't know why he bought so many chairs for that table. He usually ate on the couch, watching TV, and even when Danny or whoever came over was over, the table remained untouched. Sitting at that table with three empty chairs around him just made him feel lonely. So he was happy that the table was going to use. "So how is everything with you and your boyfriend?" he asked.

They had this conversation often. Either a Tuesday or Thursday in the week, since that was the only time that Natalie would come over. "Good, I guess."

That was the usual answer. Don didn't like him that much, though. "You guess? So why don't you let her go up to your apartment with him?"

"She likes it here. Why, do you want to give her key to some woman that got your heart?" Natalie teased.

"Of course not. I love her coming here. Gives me a chance to talk to my neighbors."

"Ella loves you. I mean, you've known her since she was born," she said trying to change the subject from her boyfriend to Ella.

But Don was having none of it. "Nat," he started, "you've been going out with this guy, what is it, Charlie, for like six months. And you still don't trust him," Don said. He cared for this woman, and her daughter. Never thought that there could be a relationship between him and Natalie, but he cared for her like a sister.

"I trust him," Natalie said. "I just don't trust his friends that he has over half the time. I never know when they're there, when they're not. So I'd rather not let my daughter near them. She's safer alone in here, then up there with them. And she likes the peace. The guys up there are obnoxious." She looked at his wall and saw the time on the clock. "My gosh, it's already so late. I need to get upstairs. Thanks again, Don."

"It was nothing, Nat." She stood up and walked over to her sleeping daughter. She bent down to pick her up, but Don stopped her. "Just grab her bag, I'll take her up."

"No, you don't have to," she said taking her daughter's bag and moving to pick her up again.

"You have a full load. And you look exhausted. It's nothing."

Don easily, yet gently picked up the sleeping girl. Ella nestled herself into his chest. Natalie saw that and smiled. They walked up the two flights of stairs together to get to Natalie and Ella's apartment. She opened the door and offered to take Ella out of her arm, but Don declined. "Thanks, Don. You're my savior."

"Stop saying thanks."

"Okay."

Natalie opened the door to their apartment and bit her lip in disdain. There were bottles of beer littering their tables and floor. Charlie definitely had friends over.

He walked into the apartment and down the hall to Ella's bedroom. He had done this enough times to know where it was. He adjusted Ella and his arms and pulled down the covers of her bed with his free hand. He placed her down and tucked her in. "Good night, Ella."

"Night, dad," she said rolling away from the sound of Don's voice.

Don stepped back in shock, bumping into Natalie who was standing behind him. Don opened his mouth to apologize, but she stopped him. "It happens once in awhile. You know, since her father died. But that talk is for another time."

"Yeah," was forced from his lips. He knew that Natalie's husband died not long after Ella was born, so the little girl never knew her father. But she had just called him dad. After the initial shock, he turned to face her. "She ever call Charlie that?"

"No."

They both stepped out of the hall and Don closed the door to the little girl's room. When he looked up, he was met with the glare of Charlie's gray eyes. "What the hell are you doing here?" he yelled.

"Eh, shut your mouth. She's sleeping," Don replied in a much softer voice pointing to the door.

"I don't give a damn," Charlie yelled keeping his volume the same. "Get out of my place."

Charlie pushed Don toward the entrance of the apartment. "This ain't your place," Don said a little louder now that he was away from Ella's door.

Charlie grabbed Don's shirt and slammed him against the front door. He reeked of stale alcohol. He was drunk, and that wasn't a surprise to Don. "Charlie! Let him go! He's just putting Ella to sleep," Natalie screamed trying to pull Charlie off of Don. "Charlie, let him go!" After all of the struggling, she said something that he knew would make him let her go. "He's a cop, remember."

Charlie let go of Don and walked back into the hallway. "I don't ever wanna see that bastard in here again!"

Don opened his mouth to say something, but he knew better. Charlie was a big guy. While Don was lean and toned, Charlie was brute strength and muscle, but Don knew he could take him. But it wasn't the place. Not with Ella around, and Charlie as plastered as he was.

Natalie opened the door and walked Don to the stairwell. "I'm so sorry, Don."

Don sighed at the wrinkles in his shirt. "Don't apologize for him, Nat," he replied brushing himself off.

"You all right?" she asked taking a quick glance at him.

"I'm good. I'm worried about you though."

"I'm fine. It was just a one time thing," she whispered.

"Was it really?" he said in disbelief.

"Yes, Don!" she yelled. She put her hand over her mouth. "I'm sorry. I know you're just worried, but there is nothing to worry about."

"Has he ever hit you?"

"No. He's never touched me or Ella," she answered, knowing that he would ask about her daughter next.

"Nat, if he ever—"

"I'll tell you," she interrupted. "You're not gonna press charges or anything, are you?"

"Nah. I'll just give him that as a freebee. He didn't hit me or anything. Would it be out of line for me to say that I don't want you or Ella to stay there tonight?"

"I'm sorry, Don. I gotta get back."

"Okay. I'm only a phone call and a few flights of stairs away, okay?" he reassured.

"Yeah." She tiptoed up and kissed him on his cheek. "Thanks," she whispered and walked back to her apartment.

Don shook his head and walked back down to his apartment. He got in his apartment and unbuttoned his shirt. He threw it in the laundry basket and headed for the bathroom. He needed to clear his head. He was worried, tired, and pissed.His happy feeling for a few hours ago was gone.

**I'm so sorry people. But I needed to write this story. It wouldn't leave me alone. I'm sorry to all my other readers because I know that I start stories, update them randomly, and make it seem like I'll never finish them. I promise I'll update them. Okay, so the author's note about this story. Don't worry, this isn't a romance story. Not my specialty. I know not much happened here. I just had to introduce a few characters. Okay. If this is a bust, I'll stop and stick to my other stories. Please review and no flames. Thanks. Lil-Rock**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own Ella, Natalie and Charlie. Everyone else, only in my dreams.**

Don was one of the first detectives to arrive on the scene. Another death which was no surprise to him. He walked under the yellow tape and toward the dead body. It was an old man lying dead the middle of an alley. And although the only sign of foul play was a bruise on the man's face, the CSIs needed to be called. He yawned while he waited for them to show up.

He was tired. He had stayed up all night worrying about the woman and little girl upstairs. He laid in silence staring at his ceiling thinking that if he concentrated hard enough, he could hear through one floor and know if something had gone on. But he knew that it was useless. He had almost gotten to sleep once or twice, then the image of Charlie yelling at Ella or hitting Natalie bombarded his thoughts and he decided that he wasn't going to get any sleep any time soon.

He walked into his kitchen, grabbed a glass of water, and moseyed over to his couch. At three in the morning, the only programs littering the television screen was infomercials and reruns. After a few minutes he stopped on a channel and watched someone try to sell some sort of machine that promised rock hard abs in 3 weeks or less. That got a laugh out of Don. He changed the channel to someone selling an air purifier, sprawled out on his couch and groaned.

He didn't realize he had fallen asleep until he heard his cell phone ringing back in his room. He stood up and walked down his hallway, yawning, and answered his phone. And that is how got the assignment to work in that specific alley.

He was not taking in everything that was happening around him. He was so wrapped up in his thoughts about the night before that he didn't realize his friend walk up to him. "Don!" he yelled.

"Yeah?" he replied turning around and saw Danny standing there.

"I've been saying your name for like five minutes here. I thought you were just ignoring me."

"Sorry, Danny."

"It's okay." Danny walked up and got a better look of his friend. "Man, you look like crap."

"Thanks," Don deadpanned.

As they walked to the body, Don let out a long yawn. "Long night?" Danny asked with a smile on his face.

"I don't wanna talk about it."

"Whatever you say," Danny said incredulously.

"It's nothing."

"Okay. But I'm telling you, you really suck at lying." After Danny got out that last statement, he decided it was time to get to work. "So, what've we got here?"

From Danny's knowledge, Hawkes was working on a case on the other side of the city while Lindsay, Mac, and Stella worked on another leaving Danny to process this scene by himself, with Don watching over him. But neither Don nor Danny minded. As Danny didn't bring up what happened last night and Don let Danny do his work, they were both content.

Two hours passed, the body made its way over to the Medical Examiner, and couldn't find any sign of foul play. "So you saying he just dropped dead?" Don asked.

"Yeah. It's called natural causes."

"What about the bruise on the guy's head?"

"He fell."

"He fell?"

"He fell," Danny repeated. "The guy must've had a heart attack, fell, and probably hit his head on the way down."

Don rubbed the bridge of his nose in irritation. "Great, just great," he exasperated.

He turned around and walked down the alley. Danny packed up his supplies as fast as he could and ran after his friend. He got in front of Don and stopped him from leaving the alley. "What is really going on with you, Flack?"

Usually it was Don having to ask Danny how he was or what was going on. Especially after all of the incidents that bombarded Danny, which would have caused any normal person to have broken down by now. First, Danny's brother, Louie, was put into a coma by the Tanglewood boys. Then Aiden, one of Danny's best friends, was killed by the man she got fired trying to put away. Mac had left Danny in Don's hands, and Don was going to be there for his friend. Now that the roles were reversed, it was a little unsettling to Don.

"Nothing," Don answered nonchalantly.

"That's a load of crap and you know it," Danny persisted. "Women trouble?"

"Shut up, Messer. Finish doing your job."

"I am finished. I can't see any disturbances, no defensive wounds, no nothing. I'll check with Hammerback later." Danny paused and the two walked to the opening of the alley. "It has to be," Danny said. Don sent a confused look Danny's way, not knowing where Danny was going with the conversation. "I mean, I haven't seen you go on a date in months. And no one with someone could be as angry as you are."

"Shut up, Messer."

"Come on, Flack," Danny pushed. "Let me help you for once."

"It's stupid. Just drop it, Danny."

Danny opened his mouth to say something else, but decided to recede. "All right, all right. You won't tell me." They made it to Danny's SUV. He opened up the trunk of it and put his kit in it. "So what are you doing tonight?" he asked after closing it.

"Nothing. Why?"

"Nothing? On a Friday night? We're gonna go play pool."

"Who is we?" Don asked suspiciously. The last thing that he needed was for Danny to try and hook him up with a random girl.

"Well, me and you. That's all I thought about so far."

"Nah, that's all right."

"No," Danny persisted. You're gonna tell me what is going on with you. Even if I have to get you drunk off your ass to do it."

"Thanks, Messer," he replied sardonically.

"Any time."

"Just us."

"I can invite Hawkes and Mac and Adam if you like. Make it a guy thing."

"Haven't played in awhile," he murmured thinking back to the last time he played pool. It must have been a distant memory, because he couldn't remember.

Danny laughed and stepped around his friend to get back into the alley. He needed to get the bags of evidence into his SUV. "You say that, and every time you do, you always hustle me out of some good money. You think I would've learned by now."

"I never take it," Don replied. He had his arms out defensively and followed the smaller man.

"You mean you never take all of it."

Don was going reply with his famous wit, but what Danny said was true. "Okay, let's do it," Don resigned. Maybe going out and winning Danny's money would make him feel better. "So what time?"

"After my shift. Seven thirty. And I'm picking you up," Danny acknowledged.

"You don't have to."

"I do," he started, "because I know that if I don't pick you up, you're not coming out." Don threw his arm over Danny's shoulders and messed up his hair. "Not the hair. Not the hair."

"It looks the same," Don replied after letting him go.

"Okay, look, I gotta get down to the morgue. I'll tell you what really happened to the guy, and I'll see you after my shift. And you better not try to weasel out of this."

"I won't. Thanks, Danny."

Danny knew that Don meant it because he called him Danny and not Messer. "No problem. What are friends for right?"

Don escorted Danny to his car and waved him off. Don got to his car and drove to the precinct. He knew it was going to be a long day.

By the then of his shift, Don was not in the mood to go out and play pool. He would have been content just sitting at home watching TV and ordering food. But he knew that if he cancelled on Danny, he'd never be able to live it down.

He started off his shift with a bad mood, and ended it worse. After leaving the scene he was at in the morning, he went to the precinct and was stuck doing interrogations. He ended up questioning three men, who in Don's opinion got more stupid the more they talked. But Don was amused, he was mad about the night before, and they were an outlet.

When he got home, he was exhausted. He flung his keys on his counter and took off his jacket. He loosened his tie and flopped on his couch turning on the TV. He contemplated what his next move was going to be: make something to eat before he went out, or take a shower. The latter won.

After he was done with a shower and got dressed, he noticed that he felt a little better. Not good enough to actually want to go out, but better. He wore something comfortable and casual. He threw out the idea of getting something to eat. So he ended up ready with twenty minutes to spare, so he took a seat on his couch and waited.

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter. They really made me feel comfortable enough to continue with this story. I know that not much happened in this chapter, but I want Danny to have a big part in this story eventually. Don't worry, the next chapter, Ella will be in it. I was going to post this on Saturday, but it was my birthday and my cousins let me nowhere near a computer. But I wanted to put this up for you guys as soon as I could, so after a day of recovery, here it is. Please review. And thanks again. Lil-Rock**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own Ella, Natalie, Charlie, his friends, and any other random person that's never been mentioned in the show.**

Don looked away from the TV and at his door. He thought he heard someone knock on it and went to check it out. He looked through the peephole and saw a little figure walk passed. He knew that it was Ella. She looked weighed down with her backpack and a sports bag on her shoulder. He knew that she participated in a lot of extracurricular activities, but he never knew which ones. He had about fifteen minutes before Danny came over, so he decided to say hi. He unlocked the door and walked out into the hallway. "Hey, Ella," he called.

Ella froze and tensed in the middle of the hallway. A few seconds later, she continued walking down the hall like she never heard him and walked up the stairs to her floor. Don was worried about the reaction he got from her. "Hey, Don," said a small voice behind him.

He turned around and saw Natalie standing here with two bags of groceries in her arms. He reached out to help her, but she shook her head to decline his offer. "Did something happen after I left?" he asked her.

"No. What are you talking about?" Natalie asked, adjusting the bags in her arms.

"Last night, after I left your apartment. Did anything happen?" he demanded. He came off angrier than he meant to.

Natalie looked at the man standing in front of her with confusion. She was mostly surprised with his tone. "No. Charlie went to sleep."

"So did I do something wrong?"

"Of course not! Now why are you asking this?" Natalie asked.

Don exhaled and tried to calm down. He only spoke when he knew what he was going to say and the tone he was going to say it in. "Your daughter."

"What about her?"

"I saw her walking down the hall, and I called out to her. She tensed up and then kept walking. She didn't even turn around. I didn't know what to think. I just thought of the worst case scenario."

"Oh." Natalie ran to the stairs and looked up. "Ella!" she yelled.

"What?" Ella yelled. She had just gotten to her floor of stairs.

"Come down here, now."

"Why?"

"Gabriella Laine Corson, get down here now," she said sternly.

She stomped down the stairs and out of the stairwell into the hallway. "What?" she complained.

Natalie knelt down in front of her daughter. "Did you ignore Mr. Flack?"

"No."

"Gabriella."

"I didn't," she stubbornly stated.

"Gabriella Laine, don't lie to me," Natalie scolded.

"Fine." Ella took off her sports bag and dropped it on the ground at her mother's feet. She walked down the hallway to Don who was standing in front of his door watching the entire scene play before him. "I'm sorry, Mr. Flack."

"It's all right, Ella. Are you okay?"

"Yeah," she whispered.

She turned toward her mother and flung her arms out seeking approval. Natalie shook her head in displeasure. Ella took her wallet out of her backpack and used the key attached to it to open the door to Don's apartment. He reached behind and unlocked the door so that he could get back in. Natalie walked over to Don after slinging Ella's sports bag over her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Don. Let me get her out of there."

"No. It's fine. I kinda locked myself out of my place anyway," he said with a smile scratching the back of his head. "Look, I'll walk her back up after I find out what's wrong. Or when she's ready."

"I thought she was acting this way because she got into an argument with a boy today at school."

"About what?"

Natalie shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. She wouldn't tell me." They stood awkwardly in silence for a few seconds. "Going out tonight?" She asked noticing the way he was dressed. "So, who's the lucky lady?"

Don let out a laugh. "No ladies. Me and some guys from work are gonna go out, get a few drinks, shoot some pool. Danny Messer? I think I've talked about him a few times."

"Name sounds familiar." She shifted the bags in her arms one more time. "I better get going." She turned and started to walk down the hall. She stopped at the base of the stairwell and looked back at Don. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Just go. I think I can handle her."

Natalie sent him a smile and disappeared up the stairs. Don entered his apartment and saw Ella sitting on the couch staring at a blank TV screen. She was sitting on the furthest cushion from the door, and Don took a seat on the closest one leaving one cushion between them. They sat in silence for about five minutes before Don reached for the remote and was about to turn it on. But Ella got to it first and moved it out of his grasp. "Are you okay?" she asked.

Don was taken aback by the question. "I'm good. Why wouldn't I be?"

"That's good," she said hoping that Don would let it go.

He moved a seat over and lessened the space between them. "Why did you ask me that?" he asked.

She hadn't even looked at Don since the conversation started. And it wasn't going to change any time soon. "Charlie."

"Oh."

"I heard you guys fighting. He's stupid. I don't like him."

"Did something happen last night?"

"No," she replied, her eyes still not leaving the black screen.

"Is that why you didn't talk to me in the hallway?"

Ella turned and looked into Don's blue eyes with tears forming in her brown ones. "I'm sorry," she cried with tears rolling down her cheeks. "I really am."

"Come here," Don said holding his arms open out to her.

She leaned over and started crying into his chest, dampening his clean shirt. But Don didn't seem to care. He rubbed small circles on her back to calm her down. "I didn't want you to get yelled at again because of me," she whispered.

His hand stopped drawing circles and he gently lifted her off his chest. "You thought that I got yelled at because of you?" Ella looked away from Don. Don tipped her chin and made her look at him. "I didn't get yelled at because of you. Like you said, Charlie is stupid. I can take care of myself. I don't want you worrying about me."

"Too bad," Ella said with something that resembled a smile on her face. "So you're okay."

"Ella," he sighed.

"Sorry. I can't help it."

"So you didn't tell your mother about this?" Ella shook her head. "Why not?" She shrugged her shoulders in reply. "You know, your mother thought it was because you got into an argument with someone at school."

"His fault," Ella argued. She jumped up from the couch and glared at Don. "He tried to steal my keychain."

"Which one?"

"The one you gave me. The Superman one. Jealous because his mom gave him Spiderman and I wouldn't trade. He says that I pushed him, but he tripped on his lunchbox."

"Ella, I don't want you getting into a fight over a stupid keychain."

"I didn't get into a fight. I just wanted my keychain. It's good luck," she said. She paused for a few seconds. She returned to her seat next to Don. "And it isn't stupid," she whispered.

"I could have gotten you another one."

"It wouldn't have been the same. This one is special."

The two of them fell silent at the statement. Don never knew that she would think that about a keychain be bought when he took her out one day. She wanted that specific one, and it surprised Don. He expected her to go after the Barbie one or something more girly, but she chose the Superman one and he never asked why. After a few minutes Don broke the silence. "You good now?" Don asked. The statement felt safe enough.

"I guess."

Don didn't approve of that answer. "Ella."

"I'm good," she replied more believably.

"Okay. Not that I'm trying to get rid of you, but I gotta get you back to your mom."

"Hot date?"

"No."

"You're dressed like it."

"It's not a hot date."

"Good." They stood up at the same time and walked toward the entrance. Ella grabbed her backpack that was on the counter. "Don't forget your key this time."

He grabbed his keys from the counter and put them in his pocket. "I could always take back your key," he stated.

"That's mean," she pouted.

"I was joking, shorty," he said and tousled her hair. Just as he was about to close the door, his doorbell rang. Ella sent him a look to say that she wasn't going anywhere. He ran back in and to his buzzer. "Yeah."

Don was greeted by a familiar voice. "Don. You ready?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, I just gotta do something first."

"What?"

"Just something. You gonna wait out there for me or what?"

"Nah. Buzz me in."

"Yeah, if I'm not back in two minutes, wait for me."

"Where the hell are you—"

Don interrupted him by buzzing him in. Don closed his apartment door and saw Ella waiting for him by his door frame. "Who was that?" she asked curiously.

"A friend. Come on. Let's get you upstairs."

Ella held out her hand and Don put his hand in hers. They walked up the stairs together. At the top of the staircase, Ella wiggled her hand out of his and Don stopped walking, which was what she wanted him to do. "I can go from here," she said.

"I have to walk you to the door. I promised your mom."

"It's okay. I just…"

"Okay, I'll watch you from here," he said. He understood what she was trying to say by the tone of her voice. She didn't want him to be anywhere near Charlie. "Tell your mother to call me if she doesn't believe that I walked you up. And Ella, if Charlie or anyone does anything to upset you, you come to me and tell me."

Ella smiled and nodded. She tugged on his sleeve which made him bend down to see what she wanted. She kissed him on the cheek and ran down the hall to her apartment. He waited before she was actually inside before he headed back downstairs.

When he got back down to his floor, he saw Danny leaning on his door with his hands in his pocket. Danny turned his head when he heard someone coming down the hall. "Who is up there?" Danny asked.

"None of your business."

"Well, good for you, knowing your neighbors and all."

"That means a lot coming from you, Messer," Don said sarcastically and unlocked his door.

Don went back into his apartment and grabbed his wallet and cell phone. He walked out and saw Danny grinning like a fool. "It's a woman ain't it?"

"Shut up," Don said punching Danny lightly in the shoulder. "Let's get out of here."

"Yeah. Time to get you drunk and sort out your problems." Don didn't know if Danny was trying to get his mind off of everything that was going on around him by wanting to help Don, but it eased Don to know that his friend cared.

They walked down and Don saw Danny's SUV in front of the complex. "Wow. I feel special. You're using the SUV."

"Yeah, the Ferrari is in the shop," Danny joked.

He unlocked the car and Don opened the door to the passenger's side. "So, are we picking anyone else up?" he asked.

Danny walked over to the other side of his car. "Nah, they'll just meet us there."

"They as in who?"

"Adam and Hawkes."

"You know, I could've just driven myself," Don said getting into the car.

"I know. But you wouldn't have." Danny got into the car and started it up. "Buckle up," he warned. "Time to unravel the mystery that is Donald Flack."

Don buckled his seatbelt and with that Danny drove off to their destination.

**Okay, so the next chapter is going to skip the weekend and go to Monday. Just so everyone knows the time frame in my head this story takes place after Heroes and before Charge of this Post. In my mind there is a long time—maybe two weeks—between the two episodes. If it doesn't make sense, I'm sorry, but I really want to strengthen the relationship between Don and his neighbors. All right. Please review and thanks for reading and reviewing the previous two chapters. Lil-Rock**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Ella, Natalie, and Charlie all belong to me.**

Monday came along and Danny, Hawkes, and Adam stood in the lab analyzing te evidence that Hawkes and Danny had brought back from the scene. The two of them had finished their solo cases on Friday, and Mac had put them on this specific case together. They were running trace on the victim's clothes, while Adam watched over them waiting for one of them to give him something to do.

They stood in silence as they worked only making sounds of approval or disapproval at what they had found. It would have driven anyone insane except for the sounds of the machines going on and off. When it stopped, Adam would sigh, because he couldn't handle the silence.

"Morning, Flack," Stella said as she passed b the lab.

The three men inside looked up and saw Flack walk in. "Amazing," Hawkes said.

"What?" Danny asked.

"The man gets totally drunk on Friday, takes all of our money, while drunk, and as still able to keep is mouth shut from you," he replied.

"And he showed up to work on time," Adam added.

"Well, he had two days to recover," Danny retorted.

"How much do you wanna bet that he wasn't really drunk?"

"Oh, he was drunk all right. He made very good acquaintances with his toilet bowl that night," Danny laughed.

"Talking about me, Messer?" Don said leaning against the door post.

Danny raised his arms in defense. "Hey, I'm not the only one."

"Flack, man. You're a mystery," Adam said.

"You're even more of a damn mystery now then you were before," Danny added.

"I swear, Flack. You got better at the game the more you drank."

"Not really," Don sniffled.

"Stop being so modest," Hawkes said feeling the need to input in the conversation. "You ended up taking a lot of money. Our money."

"I didn't take all of it, did I?" It was more of a question than a statement, because Don really could not remember.

"No, but you still took a lot," Hawkes replied.

"Danny's the one who made the challenge of you three against me," Don responded. He could only remember parts of Friday night, and that was one of them.

Danny laughed. "I thought it would've increased my odds."

"You were wrong," Hawkes said.

"Yeah, Flack. We thought that we had you after creaming you the first game," Adam recalled three nights ago. "Then you go and beat us three games in a row."

"I don't even remember doing that. All I remember is waking up with a nasty headache and a few extra bucks in my pocket," he said finally walking into the lab with the other guys. The three of them had stopped working when he first appeared, and still hadn't gone back to work. "So, did I spill anything juicy, Messer?"

"No. Unfortunately. But I came to the conclusion that it _does_ have to do with a woman."

"How do you know that?"

"'Cause that is the only thing you'd fall silent about when I asked. Sports, work, you'd yap on and on, but when I asked if it was girl trouble, nothing. And that's your defense when you're drunk."

"Yeah, you've got some walls around you, Flack," Hawkes added.

"That's not normal," Adam said, not wanting to be left out of the conversation.

"Whoa," Don said stopping the onslaught and interrogation. "Danny's got higher walls than I do."

Danny walked over to Don and pushed him in the shoulder. "Don't try and turn the attention to me."

"Yeah, and we expect that from Danny. Not from you," Hawkes added.

"Expect what from Danny?" Stella said walking into the lab.

Mac followed her in and saw that no one was working at the moment. "Hey, Stel," Don said.

"Don, I don't need you here distracting my men."

"Sorry, Mac," Don said. He quickly turned his head to sneeze.

Stella walked over to Don and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You okay, Flack?" Stella asked, noticing something wasn't right with him.

Don nodded because he couldn't get any words out at the moment. "Fine," he finally said while rubbing his nose.

"Look," Hawkes started holding up a few samples, "I gotta get this down to DNA and see if we can get a match on someone."

Danny nodded in consent and Hawkes left the lab. Adam followed Hawkes out not really knowing what to do without him there. And he knew that there were things that needed to be said between Danny and Don, and he didn't want to be there when they were said it. Stella got whatever results she needed and exited the room as fast as possible. "Danny, get what you need done as soon as possible. And Don, don't distract him too much all right?"

"You got it, Mac," Danny said. Mac left leaving Danny and Don standing there in silence. "You okay, Flack?"

"Yeah," Don quickly replied. Danny gave Don a look that dared Don to lie to him again. "Okay, no. I think I'm coming down with something."

"You? Sick?" Danny mocked.

"I'm human, you know."

"You think it's the flu?"

"No. I think it's just a cold. I don't think I've fully recovered from Friday night."

"You should head home."

"Nah, I'm already here. I'll stay home tomorrow if it doesn't get better."

"Whatever," Danny said incredulously. "I'm just looking out for you. Look, just stay away from our evidence. The last thing we need is for your name to show up as one of the suspects because your nose started dripping."

"Aw, and here I was thinking that you actually gave a damn about me, Messer. I'm hurt."

"You will be if you get me sick. Now get out of here."

"Trying to get rid of me?"

"Yes," Danny replied bluntly.

"All right, all right, I'll go."

Don walked out of the lab, but stopped right when he passed the door. He braced himself against the door and let out a sneeze which sounded like he sneezed out half his lung. "Flack, just go home. You can't work when you're like this," Danny yelled from the microscope.

"I'll call in sick tomorrow. Happy?" Flack replied.

"No. Because you're contaminating my air now."

Don smiled at his friend's statement. He felt the need to walk back into the lab to finish this conversation. "Your air? I'm sorry that I can't microscopically see which air molecules belong to you, Messer."

Danny looked up from the scope and smiled. "You know, any other person would have received something for a comment like that. But you're sick, so I'll let that slide." Don let out another sneeze and turned his head just in time before he sneezed onto Danny. But Danny knew how close it was. "Out!"

Don knew the thin ice he was on with that sneeze and high-tailed it out of the lab as fast as possible.

LRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR

Natalie and her daughter walked into their apartment hand in hand. It was after they went out to dinner when Ella was done with her martial arts practice. Ella knew that she needed to wash up, so she walked passed Charlie without a hello and into the shower.

Ella walked out of her shower and into her room to brush her hair. Through her door, she could hear her mom and Charlie screaming. She groaned in irritation. The fighting in the apartment had gotten worse the past few weeks that she was worried one day they would get kicked out because of it. Ella never understood why her mom didn't just break up with Charlie. The fight ended with Charlie stomping off to the room he shared with Natalie and slamming the door shut.

Ella decided it was safe to go outside and walked into the kitchen. She saw her mom sitting at the table leaning on her hand. Natalie wiped her cheeks and stood up. Ella walked passed her mother and got a glass of water. "Good night, Ella," Natalie said.

"Whatever," she replied walking toward her room.

Natalie took notice of her daughter's tone and questioned it. She followed Ella down the hallway. "What is wrong with you?" Natalie asked.

Ella put her glass of water on the ground and faced her mom. "Why do you let him talk to you like that?"

Natalie knew that she didn't like it when Charlie and she fought. Actually, she didn't like Charlie at all. "Ella, just go in your room," Natalie sighed.

"No," Ella said defiantly. "What he says to you isn't right."

"Ella," she said.

"I hate him!" Ella yelled. "He doesn't deserve you."

"Ella!" she replied, matching her daughter's tone.

"'Ella' won't work on me. You're different because of it."

"Ella, stop it," Natalie demanded of her daughter.

"You don't smile."

"Gabriella."

"You only smile with Mr. Flack."

"Gabriella," Natalie repeated.

"Charlie's stupid," she screamed. Tears brimmed on her eyelids. "And you let him yell at you for no reason."

Natalie raised her hand in anger and Ella stared at her defiantly. She turned her hand into a fist and struck the wall. "Gabriella," she panted. She turned away from the gaze of her daughter. "Go to your room."

"You're stupid!" she yelled. "I hate what he does to you. And you're stupid for letting him."

Ella turned around and knocked over the glass of water that she left on the ground. She walked into her room and slammed her door with so much force that one of the pictures on the hallway wall fell. Natalie fell to her knees and sobbed at what she almost done.

**Yeah, I know it was lame. But I really enjoyed writing the conversation in the lab. That was fun for me. All right. A few more chapters, then we'll get to Charge of this Post. Then all the good stuff. Okay, so this might be the last chapter for a few weeks. I'm hoping only two weeks. I'm going up to the mainland on Monday, so the next few days will be hectic. I hope this turned out okay. Thanks for all the great reviews and thanks to all my readers. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own Ella, Charlie, and Natalie.**

After much debate, Don's chief was finally able to convince him to go home. When his sneeze turned into a headache, then a muscle ache, Don finally, but reluctantly agreed. But not after about a dozen 'I'm fine' responses, accompanied with a sneeze or a groan to discredit each of them. The last conversation with his boss wasn't what Don expected. The chief told Don that it would be okay if he went home early. Don would have responded with yet another 'I'm fine', but the chief gave him a look that told him it was an unspoken order.

When Don finally got home, he took a shower, threw on a wifebeater and boxers then sprawled out on his bed. He didn't make any effort to try and take anything for his aches. Not that it would have mattered because as soon as his head touched his pillow, he was sleeping like a baby.

In the back of his mind he could hear his cell phone ringing on his bedside table. As much as he wanted to ignore it, the ringing went on, and the further he was pulled out of his dreams.

When there was no possible way for him to sink back into his blissful dreams he blindly reached for his phone. He answered it without checking to see who it was on the line. He didn't care who it was anyway, he was just going to tell them to call back later. He answered his phone and held it up to his ear. "Flack. This better be important," he said, sleep evident in his voice.

"Ella's missing!" Natalie screamed into his phone.

Those two words yanked Don out of his sleepy state. "What? Natalie?" he asked sitting up.

"Ella's not in her room," she said frantically. "I went to check on her, and she's not there. She should be in her room."

"Natalie, breathe. Calm down," he said swinging his legs over his bed. He rubbed his face trying to wrap his brain around what was happening.

"Don't tell me to calm down!" she yelled in a high pitched voice. "My daughter isn't where she is supposed to be."

"Nat, just try to calm down. I'll be up in a minute. Don't do anything without me."

"Okay," she replied sounding defeated. "Stay on the phone with me, please."

"I will," he said walking out of his room. He would have walked straight to his front door, but something in his living room caught his eye. He walked to his couch to see a little girl, with a bear in her arm, sleeping peacefully. He smiled and breathed a sigh of relief. "Nat, your daughter is asleep on my couch."

"What?" Natalie replied incredulously.

"She's sleeping on my couch. She must've used her key to get in."

"I'll come down and get her."

"Nat, come on. Talk to me."

"Not over the phone," she said sadly.

And Don recognized the tone. "Okay then. Come downstairs." Without a goodbye she hung up the phone. Don closed his phone and put it on the living room table. "Ella, what are you doing? Scaring the crap out of your mother like that."

A soft knock on his door tore his attention from the little girl. He answered it and saw Natalie standing outside. "Can we talk outside?"

"Yeah," Don replied. He grabbed his keys and would have put them in his pocket if his boxers had them, so he just palmed them. He closed his door and saw Natalie sitting and leaning against the wall next to his door. "So, what happened?" Don asked getting straight to the point.

"I got into a fight."

"With Ella?"

"With Charlie."

"About what?"

"I got a phone call today. It was Josh's mother."

"Josh? As in Ella's father?"

"Yeah, she wanted to see her granddaughter. She felt that Ella is the only thing that she has of her son, and she wanted to meet her."

"So why did you and Charlie get into a fight?"

"Charlie thought that this would have been the perfect opportunity to spend some time together. He would rather I leave Ella with her grandparents. Permanently. There is a lot of tension between those two because Ella doesn't like him; and Charlie thinks that Ella gets in the way of our relationship. He knew when we first started dating that I had a child, and it didn't really matter before. And now it does. So we fought about me leaving Ella with Josh's parents. Ella heard us yelling then I yelled at her. I almost-" she whispered, her voice leaving her.

"Natalie?"

"I almost hit my daughter," she sobbed with a single tear rolling down her cheek.

Don reached up to wipe it away, but pulled back at the last moment. She needed someone to listen to her, and Don was going to do just that. "But you didn't."

"You don't get it, Don. I almost did. Because I was mad at her. I was mad at her for being right."

"Being right about what?"

"Everything. Just everything," she whispered. They sat in silence for a few seconds. Natalie was about to say something when one of Don's neighbors walked passed. The two of them just smiled and waved. Don blushed that his neighbors saw him in his boxers. Natalie's smile faded just as quickly as it appeared. "God, Don. I feel like more than half the time she is the one that is taking care of me. Not the other way around. Like without her, I would have already broken down. I mean, last time I checked, I was the mother, wasn't I?"

"Nat, you're being too hard on yourself."

"I'm not, Don. If anything, I'm being too easy. She's growing up too fast. Did I force her to? She's always asking how I'm doing, being protective of me; even when I'm supposed to be the one doing it. I forget sometimes that she is only six-years-old. She rarely acts it. Tonight it felt like I was arguing with a teenager."

"But she is still a kid," Don said reassuringly. He let out a sneeze before he continued. "She still acts like a kid."

Natalie didn't pry about the sneeze, because she knew he wouldn't have told her anything. Also Natalie knew that Don was more concerned about her at the moment then about himself. So she let it slide. "If only Josh were here, maybe things would be different. She could actually be a kid for once and not have to worry about me, because she wouldn't need to. And Josh would be the one to be worrying."

"She's happy though."

"Especially when she's around you. She really does love you, Don," Natalie said with a smile on her face.

"I'm just…" his voice trailed off. He tried to figure out what exactly he was to Ella.

"The closest thing she has to a male role model in her life."

"I see her twice a week for three hours a day at the most."

"But you still see her. And she loves being around you. She's always talking about you." She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "When Josh died," she started softly, "I didn't have a clue what I was going to do. We were both estranged from our families; I couldn't work because I had a three month old to care for. And here comes Don Flack, swooping in to save the day. Like Superman."

Don laughed and blushed for the second time. "Don't compare me to Superman."

"Okay, I won't. But for some reason, you made everything okay. Or at least, I knew it would be."

"I was just coming over to see the baby," Don replied. He let out a short laugh. "I love babies."

It was Natalie's turn to laugh. "Thanks, Don. Really. Besides Josh, you were the only male that she would let carry her. Everyone else, she would be bawling her eyes out. Some of my closest friends, she wouldn't let get close to her."

"I just threatened to arrest her if she cried or puked on my leather jacket."

Don held her hand out to Natalie and she placed her hand in it. "She is she really mad at me?" Natalie asked looking at the detective.

"I don't know. I never had the chance to talk to her. I just saw her passed out on my couch."

"Couch?"

"Yeah, I don't know why she does that. The guest room is right there, but she always sleeps on the couch."

"Does she have Clark with her?"

"Who's Clark?"

"Her bear. She can't sleep without him."

"Oh yeah. She had her arm wrapped around him. Why Clark?"

"You need to ask her that one yourself." Natalie stood up and Don followed her. "Would you mind if I left her there? I don't want to wake her. I'll pick her up in the morning."

"That's fine. Look, Natalie. I care about you. And I care about Ella. I told Ella that if anyone upsets her, she could come to me."

"You know that she's never gonna leave you now, right?"

"I'm okay with that. But I don't like seeing you both mad and sad, and I don't want to see either of you hurt. She doesn't like Charlie, and I don't like him either. She's a smart kid. Maybe you should try and see what we're talking about."

"I'm trying, Don."

"Why are you wasting your time protecting this lowlife piece of-"

"Don," Natalie scolded.

"I'm sorry. That was out of line. But seriously, Natalie. There are better people out there for you. He doesn't deserve you."

"Ella told me that."

"She's right, though."

"Then who does deserve me, Don?"

"I don't know," he said hesitantly. "But you will find out eventually."

Natalie kissed him on the cheek again. "Thanks, Don. For everything. I mean it," she said before she made her way down the hall.

Don watch as she disappeared up the staircase and walked back into his place. He walked over to the little girl on the couch and sighed. She scared the crap out of him and her mother without meaning to, but he understood where she was coming from. He grabbed a sheet from his spare room and draped it over her.

He would have bent down to kiss her on her forehead, but he knew he was sick and didn't want to give her anything. So he settled for brushing her hair out of her face and smiling. He turned to walk back to his room and sneezed. He glanced back over to Ella to see if she woke up, but she only stirred. "Good night, shorty," Don said turning off all the lights.

"Bless you," Ella mumbled in her sleep.

**I am so sorry that it's taking me forever to update my stories. College is really kicking my butt. And I've only been here for three weeks. I know, it's sad. I'm sad to say that updates will be really random. I try to write when I can, but I'm just so exhausted by the end of the day, and I don't have cable in my room, so I might have to fight people for the TV in the lounge. Thanks for reading and I hope this chapter was okay. Lil-Rock**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Ella, Natalie, and Charlie belong to me. **

When Natalie knocked on the door to pick up her daughter, Don had already been awake for almost two hours. He had been sitting at his kitchen table with a cup of water in one hand and his cell phone in the other. He felt miserable. He was congested, and because of it he couldn't sleep. He was going to call in sick as soon as Ella left.

He answered the door, and smiled. "Don, you look horrible," was the first words out of Natalie's mouth.

"At least you're honest," Don replied with the closest thing to a smile he could muster.

"Are you okay?" Natalie asked, her tone coated with concern.

"Just a little bit of insomnia."

"I hope she didn't give you a hard time."

"No, she slept. Actually, she's still sleeping. Come inside."

Natalie walked inside and to the couch. She knelt down and kissed her daughter on the cheek. "Ella, sweetie. Time to wake up and get ready for school."

Ella stretched her arms and let out a long yawn. She blinked a couple of times before her eyes could stay open. "Morning," she yawned again.

"Good morning," Natalie and Don replied.

"Sorry, mom. I promise to never say stuff like that again."

"It's okay. And don't you ever stop being honest with me. Okay?" Ella nodded in response. "Now come on, you have to get ready."

Ella rolled off the couch, taking the sheet and Clark with her. She bent down to pick it up, but Don stopped her. "It's okay, Ella. I'll get it. You get ready for school."

"Bye, Don," Natalie replied. "Get some sleep."

"See you tonight, Mr. Flack," Ella said and she and her mother were out the door.

Don bent down to pick up the sheet and bear that fell to the floor. He stared at the bear clad only in boxers. He threw both the sheet and bear on the couch and stood up. But he stood up so quickly that the room spun around him. He fell onto the couch and sighed. He picked up his cell phone and called his boss. "Hey, it's Flack."

"Flack, what are you doing?" his boss replied. "You should be trying to get-"

"I'm calling in sick."

"Oh," his boss replied. "Okay. Take a few days off."

"I will. But if you need someone-"

"I'm not calling you," he interrupted.

"Okay."

Without a goodbye, his boss hung up the phone. Don turned and laid on his couch, using Ella's bear as a pillow. He threw the sheet over himself and pulled it over his head. Within a few minutes, the only sound that echoed through Don's apartment was the sound of his breathing through his cold.

LRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR

Ella walked down the hallway with her headphones in her ears, mp3 player in one hand, and the key to Don's apartment in the other. She sang along softly with the song playing, humming to the parts she didn't know. "I love you, I've loved you all along. And I miss you, been far away for far too long. I keep…" her voice trailed off humming the Nickelback song as all of her concentration was put into her trying to open Don's door.

After finally getting it open, she walked in and threw her bag on the floor like she usually did. She turned off her mp3 player and put it in her bag. She moved to go and sit on the couch, but she noticed that it was a lot lumpier than it was that morning. She fearfully stuck out a finger and poked at it.

When it started to move, she stepped back and gasped. "It's alive," she whispered.

The movements became more pronounced and Ella froze in place. "Ow," the lump in the couch said.

"Ow?" she replied utterly confused. "No, boo. Or I'm gonna eat your brains?"

"Ella?"

"It knows my name," she whispered.

Don pulled the sheets off his head and blinked a couple of times to get awake. After a couple of seconds, the big blur in front of him became a little girl in a school uniform. "Shouldn't you be at school?"

"Mr. Flack. Sheesh, you scared me. And no, school is finished. Have you been sleeping here all day?"

"Yeah," he replied with a yawn.

Don rolled over and snuggled into his pillow. "Mr. Flack," Ella protested , that he was falling asleep on her. She grabbed onto his shoulder with her small hands and tried to shake him back awake.

"Ella," Don replied in the same tone. He turned back over to face her.

"You sick?" she asked.

"A little under the weather."

Ella gasped loudly at the sight in front of her. "You're sleeping on Clark's head!" she shrieked.

"He has a comfy head," Don teased.

She playfully slapped him on the shoulder. "You better not be drooling on him."

"I thought that he wet himself."

"Mr. Flack, that's just gross," she said yanking the bear out from under his head. "You drooled on Clark," she complained searching for any traces of wetness.

"No, I didn't. I was joking," Don said.

After he composed himself he sat on up, letting out a long yawn. Ella sat on Don's coffee table, with Clark in her lap, and stared into Don's blue eyes. "So, what do you have?" she asked.

"Huh?" Don asked, not really knowing what the little girl was asking.

"Fever or cold? What do you have?" she repeated.

"I think it's just a really bad cold. I just need to sleep it off."

"Okay. You sit here, and I'll make something to help you feel better faster."

She stood up from the coffee table, tossing Clark on the couch, and walked into the kitchen. "What are you going to do?" Don asked, concerned about what Ella was going to do in the kitchen, but more with what it had to do with him. "Ella?"

Don stood up and walked into the kitchen. He saw Ella opening up the pantry searching for something. "Make you some soup," she said inside of the pantry.

"Ella, I don't think—"

"I've used your stove before," she interrupted. She stepped out of the pantry with a can in her hand showing it to Don. "And it's just chicken noodle. Mom says you need to feed the fever, sweat the cold. No, that's not right. Sweat the fever, feed the cold. There we go. So you gotta eat. And you haven't eaten all day. You can watch me if you don't trust me."

"Trust isn't the issue here. Everything is in the can right?"

"Yeah."

"And you don't have to chop anything or use a knife."

"I don't think so," she replied, actually having to think about the answer.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Don replied, "Okay then."

"Okay." Ella put the soup can on the counter and grabbed Don's hand and lead him to the kitchen table. "You sit here and wait." Before Don could sit down, Ella yanked on his arm to stop him. "Actually, you need to shower, then I'll cook. It will be done when you're clean."

"Are you saying that I smell?"

"Yes. You smell really bad," Ella said pinching her nose.

"Aw, Ella. That hurt."

"Go. You're hurting my nose," she said waving her hand in front of her nose. "Stinky."

"Whatever, shorty. I can always take a shower, but you'll always be short," Don said and headed toward his bathroom in disbelief. He couldn't believe that he was taking orders from a six-year-old, but he couldn't exactly say 'no' to her. He walked into his bathroom, turned his water on to the hottest temperature he could get it without burning his skin and stepped in.

Half an hour later, Ella stood in the kitchen washing the pot she used to cook the soup. She had put the bowl of soup at the kitchen table and waited for Don to come out from his shower, but he still hadn't appeared.

After she dried her hands, she headed down the hallway leading to Don's room. She tapped lightly on the door pressing her ear against it to try and hear anything. "Mr. Flack? Are you okay?" she asked. She got no response. "Mr. Flack, come on, you're scaring me."

Don opened the door, and Ella would have came crashing down if Don hadn't stuck out an arm to catch her. "I was looking for something to wear," Don replied, standing Ella up straight.

Ella looked him up and down and scratched her head. "You look the same," she replied.

"I've settled," Don replied walking out of his room in a white wifebeater and a different pair of boxers.

"Whatever," Ella said. Ella took Don's hand and pulled him toward the kitchen. "Come on. We're gonna get you fed."

"I'm not really that hungry," Don replied.

"You don't trust my cooking, do you?"

"I do."

"All I had to do was boil the soup, and add a little water. Nothing was set on fire. And look, I still have all ten fingers," she added holding up her hands.

They made it to the kitchen table and Don took a seat on one of the chairs. "Ella, I'm just not hungry."

Ella sat in the chair opposite from him. "You're a horrible patient."

"We're not playing doctor, Ella."

"I know. I just made you food. Gosh, you must be really bad in hospitals."

"Haven't been in one as a patient in a long time. And I don't plan on going into one any time soon, unless it's for questioning."

The two sat in silence for a few moments. "So, are you going to eat the soup?" Ella asked. "Because if you're not, I'll eat it."

"You really want me to eat it that badly?"

"I don't want you to be sick. That's all. And I could have sworn I heard your tummy grumbling in the hallway." Don let out a short laugh. "Well, am I wrong?"

"No, that was my stomach. And it was more of a roaring."

"So eat the soup."

"I'll eat the soup. Go ahead and get you're homework started," he added.

"Trade."

"Okay, trade."

Don took the spoon that was set down next to the bowl and started to eat the soup, while Ella took out something that looked like math homework and went to the coffee table.

Ella turned lifted her head from her assignment when she heard the sound of metal hitting ceramic. She looked at Don and saw that he was standing to put the bowl in the sink. Ella followed Don into the kitchen. She pulled down on Don's hands before he was able to put the bowl in the sink and looked in it. "I ate it all," Don said.

"Good."

"I'll wash it. You get to finishing your homework. Your mom will have my head if you didn't finish it by the time she got back." Ella stood her ground. "Ella, I'm sick. I can still wash dishes."

Ella turned on her heels and took her place back at the coffee table. But not without grabbing her mp3 player first. The same song was playing on it, but then again, it was permanently on repeat. When she liked a song, all she did was listen to it. She began singing the lyrics to the song after humming the first verse. "I love you, I've loved you all along. And I miss you, been far away for far too long. I keep dreaming, you'll be with me and you'll never know. Stop breathing if I don't see you anymore."

Don had finished washing his dish by the time Ella had started singing her song. He leaned on his counter and listened to the little girl's voice, which brought a smile to his face. Ella looked over toward the kitchen and saw Don standing there. She removed the headphones from her ears and stared at him. "You don't have to stop because of me."

"You're staring."

"I'm sorry."

"Mr. Flack."

"Ella," Don said in a tone that most resembled a scold when he was talking to her.

And she knew what he was scolding him about. "Sorry… Don. That seems so weird. 'Cause mom always says to call you Mr. Flack or Mr. Don."

"Please, it would make me feel better."

"Okay."

"So what's up, shorty?"

"Nothing, nevermind," she replied.

Ella grabbed her headphones and put them back on her ears. Don would have pushed further, but he knew better than to do that. And in the end, he could always ask her mother.

Don made his way to his couch and sat down. He pulled the sheet over him and again used Clark as a pillow. Ella reached back and slapped Don in the arm like she knew what he had done. Don just laid on the couch waiting for her to finish.

Less than an hour later, Ella stood up and put everything in her bag. "You done?" Don asked.

She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV. She looked behind her and saw Don spread out on the couch. After shrugging her shoulders, she jumped on the couch. Don let out an oomph as she jumped over his lower body, but still landed on his legs. "Not cool," she said.

"What did I do?"

"You are using Clark as a pillow again." Don reached behind his head and pulled out Clark. He held it out to her hoping that it would be some sort of peace offering. "No, I don't want him anymore, his and my feelings are hurt."

"I'm sorry, Ella for sleeping on Clark's head."

"And…"

"Sorry, Clark."

Ella snatched the bear out of Don's hands and held it to her chest. "He doesn't forgive you yet." She tossed Don the remote, and he caught it. "Choose something." They decided on watching basketball.

The two of them were so caught up in what was happening during the basketball game that they didn't realize it when nine o'clock rolled by. A knock on the door made both of their head jerk in that direction. "What time is it?" Don asked.

"Mom's home," Ella said. "Don't move. I'll get it."

She jumped off of Don's legs and walked toward the door. She unlocked it and opened it to see her mom standing there. "Gabriella? What are you still doing up? Is Don not here? And you're still in your uniform. You haven't showered yet?"

"No."

"Have you eaten?"

"Maybe."

"What were you doing today? Come on, get your things. You need to get upstairs and clean up."

"No. Mom, we can't leave."

"Ella, we need to go. Don is already sleeping," Natalie said looking toward the couch and saw an unmoving figure. She grabbed her daughter's hand and pulled her out of the apartment.

Ella pulled back, but it didn't really do much good. "We can't leave."

"Why not?"

"He's sick."

"Then we need to let him get his rest."

"Mom. He could die."

With those words, Don sat up at stared at the little girl. "That's a little extreme."

"He won't die, Ella."

"Mom, you know he doesn't know how to take care of himself."

Don finally got off the couch and walked toward the two women who were semi-arguing. "Nat, you know I'll be fine," he said.

"She does have a point, Don."

"Nat, I'll be okay. I promise. I can take care of myself. I don't need a babysitter. You're daughter already made me something to eat."

"That was the only thing he ate all day," Ella added.

"Ella, not helping."

"Are you trying to get rid of us?" Ella asked. She really sounded hurt.

"Ella, you know that's not what I'm trying to do. I love you guys. Both of you. I just don't need to be watched over. Nothing bad will happen to me," he said trying to reason with the little girl. He couldn't believe that it was actually happening, but he needed to prove to the two ladies in front of him that he really was all right.

Ella folded her arms across her chest stubbornly. "I'm not convinced," she said.

"Look, why don't you go take a shower? And while you're in there I will try to convince your mom that I'm okay. And if she doesn't believe me, then you and her can stay over and watch me."

"Mom, don't cave in," she said softly, but loud enough for Don to hear. "He's a softie if you argue enough." With that she let out a short laugh and ran down the hall.

"Did she just call me a softie?" Don asked.

Natalie tried to suppress a laugh, but to no avail. "I think she did." The two of them made their way to the couch.

"You okay, Don?"

"Yeah. Don't believe everything that your daughter says."

"No it's not that."

"Oh, why?"

"Well, I always come in here to talk, and you usually start off by saying something, but you're not talking."

"No, it's something that Ella said."

"What? Don, like you said, you can't believe everything that my daughter tells you."

"She seemed like she wanted to ask me something really important, then she just pulled back. I hate it when she does that because it seems like it could be life changing, then she pulls away. Anything bad happen?"

"Oh, no. Of course not."

"Do you know what she wanted to ask?"

"I think I do."

"Well…"

"She's in the school play. She has a small part, has like three lines and all that cute stuff."

"Okay."

"She wanted to know if you could go."

"Me?"

"Yeah, kids in the play get two tickets to give out. Usually it's the parents. She even asked my permission if I would mind sitting next to you. She wanted to ask you, I guess she got scared."

"Yeah, I'd love to. When exactly is it?"

"Next Monday. Hopefully you won't be sick by then."

"I hope so."

"She'd love it. You know, that's the most I've ever seen her act like a six-year-old."

"When?"

"Just now. I guess she knows that when she's with you, she doesn't have to be the grown up. Like she can act grown up, but still be a kid when she does it."

"You're daughter's just a caring person. She likes to care for whoever is there. So there's days it's me, but most days it's you. And she's a kid, so no matter how much you tell her to not worry and care so much, she won't listen."

"When did you get so wise about kids without having any yourself?"

"You don't know that," Don replied.

Natalie's breath caught in her throat. "What?" she choked out.

"I'm sorry, Nat. I was just joking. I just like to think that I'm a kid myself."

"Right," she said in disbelief. "A cop who is a kid."

"You make it seem like it's not possible."

"So, how about those Lakers," Natalie said, making an obvious subject change.

The two of them sat on Don's couch watching the replays of the basketball game. Don looked at his clock then down the hallway and realized that Ella had been gone a really long time. "Nat? Ella's been in the shower for quite some time now."

"I was wondering about that myself." She stood up from the couch. "I'll go see what she's doing." She walked down the hall and toward Don's room. She didn't hear the shower going so she cautiously entered. "Gabriella? Where are you?"

There was a small movement in Don's bed. "Morning," said the small voice.

"It's still night. Sorry, sweetie, you can go back to sleep," she said, kneeling at the bedside.

"Okay. Good night."

"Good night, sweetie."

"Mr. Flack?" Ella asked. Natalie turned around and saw Don standing in the doorway.

"Yeah, El, what's up?"

"Can you come to my play on Monday?"

"Of course."

"Okay," she replied. She rolled over to face the opposite direction and fell back asleep.

Natalie brushed her daughter's hair and stood up. She met Don in the hallway right outside of his door. "Well, she asked you. But I don't think she'll remember that she did in the morning."

"I'll remember," Don said.

"I don't know if I should move her or not."

"Leave her. I'll watch her tonight."

"But she's sleeping in your bed."

"It's big enough to share. If you don't want to go to your place, you can stay here too."

"Don."

"I'm just thinking about you and your daughter."

"You're getting over a cold."

"I'll sleep in the guest room."

"Shouldn't the guest sleep in the guest room?"

"If you're staying here, you can sleep with Ella and I'll sleep in the guest room."

"I'm not going to stay the night, Don. I have to get upstairs. I'll be down tomorrow morning though."

"Okay."

"Can I take a rain check on that offer though?"

"Of course you can."

"Thanks, Don. And feel better."

"I had a good doctor," he replied with a smile.

She gave him a hug and was out the door. As soon as he heard the door close, he walked over to the couch and continued watching the replays. After a few seconds, his eyelids got heavy and he turned off the TV. He didn't make any effort to get to his bedroom, so he threw the sheet over him, and laid down. Once again, using Clark as a pillow.

**Hey everyone. I'm sorry this chapter took me awhile to upload. But I made it a little longer to compensate for it. I just haven't had the time with all my studies and trying to find time to relax, and my intramural volleyball games. And I haven't been able to watch the new episodes of CSI: NY. I'm a little bummed. Well, here is the next chapter in my story. I don't know if the next one is going to be the day after, or the night of the play. Oh well. I hope this turned out fine. Big thanks to everyone who is still reading this story. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own Ella and Natalie. That's it.**

Don walked down the busy sidewalk with a little girl on one side and her mother on the other. Natalie had a dozen pink roses in her arms, but they didn't belong to her. They were her daughters, given to her by a certain blue-eyed detective.

It was the night of Ella's performance in the play and they were walking around the city after it had finished. It was still early in the evening and Ella had finished all her work, so they decided to take a walk. All three of them, together. "So, Ella," Don started, "what do you want to do?"

"Nothing," she replied. "I just want to spend time with my two favorite people."

"Good answer," Natalie replied shifting her daughter's roses from one arm to the other.

"Nat, can I take those from you?" Don asked.

"That's alright, Don. I don't mind. And the roses are beautiful."

"One of them is fake," Ella said. "Why?"

"I didn't know if you wanted the roses to last forever or if you just wanted them because they smelled nice. So I settled for both."

"That is so cheesy," Natalie laughed.

"I like it," Ella countered.

"I thought you would."

The three of them continued to walk down the street before Ella pulled on Don's sleeve and he stopped walking. "Hey, mom. Can I get an ice cream?" Ella smiled.

"Go ahead," Natalie replied.

Ella pulled her hand out of Don's hand and walked toward the ice cream shop. She got about ten feet away from Don and her mother before she turned around. "I need money," she sweetly said.

Natalie shifted the roses one more time and reached into her purse. Just as she was about to grab her wallet, Don pulled out a ten-dollar bill and held it out to Ella. "Here," he said.

Ella walked up and looked at her mother before she took it out of Don's hand. "Don, you really don't need to do that," Natalie said.

Ella pulled her hand back. "No, it's okay," Don replied. He knelt down in front of Ella and reached out for her hand. He gently opened her hand and put the money in it. "Think about it like a gift for doing such a great job during the play."

"You already got her the roses."

"What can I say? I have a weakness for ice cream and little kids," he replied with a smile on his face as he stood back up.

Natalie finally conceded. She knew that Don wasn't going to let her reach for her wallet no matter how much she fought. "Ella, what do you say?"

"Thank you, Mr. Flack," she replied hugging his legs.

"Okay, now go stand in line," Don said. "We'll be out here."

Natalie and Don stood outside and watched as Ella took her place behind a man in a suit. Natalie jumped when a stranger walked up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Can I help you?" Natalie asked.

"Is that your daughter?" she asked.

In any other situation, Natalie would have been suspicious, but the woman looked old enough to be her mother or maybe even grandmother. "Yes," Natalie replied.

"I just wanted to say that you two made a beautiful child," the woman said with a smile on her face.

"We're not—"

"Thank you," Don interrupted.

"Have a good night."

"You too," Don said while he waved her off and the lady was on her way.

Natalie waited until the woman was far enough before she turned and looked at the man standing next to her. "Don, why did you say that?"

"Because, I didn't want her asking more questions."

"Okay," Natalie replied, understanding what Don was doing. After an awkward pause she spoke again. "What she said got me thinking. She made a point."

"What point?"

"Why haven't we ever tried it, Don?"

"Tried what?"

"Going out?"

"Because you have a boyfriend," Don replied as if the answer was obvious.

"But before that."

That was one of the few things that ever caught the detective off guard. "I don't know. Josh was a good friend of mine. I don't think it would be right."

"Oh. I see."

"Natalie, don't take it the wrong way. I love you. And I love your daughter. I would do anything for you guys."

"I know, Don."

"I hope you aren't offended by it."

"I'm not," she laughed. "I totally understand."

"Let me take you guys home. I think that she might need some rest after that performance tonight."

"Ella, are you ready to go."

Ella walked out with a large cup filled with a lot of ice cream in one hand, but the other was hidden behind her back. "So what did you get, shorty?"

"Two scoops of mint chocolate chip and one scoop of rocky road."

"That's a lot of ice cream. I hope you don't expect to eat it all by yourself," Natalie said.

"No. I got three spoons," Ella said bringing her other arm to the front revealing the spoons and giving them to Don and Natalie. Don took the giant cup of ice cream and held it for her. He dug his spoon into it and took a huge bite. "I know that Mr. Flack likes mint and so do I and I know you like rocky road, even though I have to idea why."

"It's classic."

"The only reason to ever eat marshmallows is in a s'more. Nothing else. Especially ice cream."

"It's a classic flavor."

"It doesn't make sense."

"Ice cream doesn't have to make sense."

"But mom, think about it. Whenever someone hears marshmallows, they think s'mores. Not ice cream. Unless it was s'mores flavored ice cream. That would make sense."

"I'm not going to argue with you about ice cream, Ella. Just let me enjoy it."

"I'm right, that's why," Ella replied proudly.

"Don, help me out here," she pleaded from the man who had stayed silence and just stuck to eating the ice cream.

"Your daughter has a point. And she has argued it pretty well."

"Don, you've gone over to the dark side."

"I guess I have."

"Welcome," she said scooping up a chunk of mint. "And here we don't have marshmallows in our ice cream."

"Sounds good." The three of them ate the ice cream and after a few minutes of just sitting in silence, Don stood up and started walking. Ella jogged up and grabbed his hand and walked next to him. After Natalie adjusted the roses one more time, she walked up on the opposite side of Ella. "Okay, Ella," he started, "I have a really important question for you."

"Ask away," she replied. She knew that Don always had a reason for the questions that he asked.

"You know your Build-a-Bear."

"You mean Clark?"

"Yeah, Clark," he replied. "Why did you name him that?" He didn't know why he was asking a little girl a question like that, but the curiosity got the best of him.

"Superman. Duh," she stated. "Come on, Mr. Flack. You introduced him to me."

"But Superman is geeky looking. And he doesn't wear just boxers."

"He sleeps in boxers. Clark has some style. Like a nice plaid shirt, leather jacket. And the one of television, he's not the real Superman, that's why. He's an actor," she said while a yawn escaped her lips.

"So what are you saying? That your bear is the real Superman?"

"No," she yawned again, "just modeled after him."

"I think I need to meet this Superman."

"See, now you're just being silly," she laughed.

"Why?"

"You can't meet him."

"Why can't I meet him?"

Once more she yawned. "You just can't."

Don didn't press the girl any more. "Tired?"

"No," she tried to lie through another yawn. She let out a short laugh. "Maybe a little."

"Go to sleep," Don said.

"We're walking."

Don took the little girl into his arms and carried her. "Now I'm walking, and you're not. You need to sleep. I think that you have an education to earn tomorrow."

"I'm heavy," she protested.

"No, you're not," Don laughed. "We're just going to walk to the car, then you can lie down in the back."

"What if I don't want to sleep?"

"I don't think you can fight what your body needs. And you just yawned about five times which dismisses your argument of you not wanting to."

Ella turned to her mom for some support. "Mom, I'm not tired," she pleaded. She felt guilty for Don having to carry her.

"Ella, you have school tomorrow. Just sleep."

"Fine," she said stubbornly and defeated. "Good night."

Natalie leaned over and tip-toed so that she could kiss her daughter on the cheek. Ella then kissed Don on the cheek. She put her head on Don's shoulder and she let herself fall asleep.

The two adults continued walking and a few minutes later they made it to Don's car. He gently put Ella in the back seat and buckled her in. Then he got into the driver's seat and waited for Natalie to get into the car. When she got in, he started the car and pulled out of the parking space. The two sat in silence except for the radio playing in the background. "Your daughter isn't like other six-year-olds is she?" Don asked, his voice only slightly louder than the radio.

"What do you mean?" Natalie replied.

"She's different." Don stated. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing. It's just that she's a lot more mature than other kids her age."

"She's grown up."

"She wasn't always like that. But she should still be a kid."

"She tries."

"And she's smart."

"Are you talking about for her age?"

"No, I mean, she's really smart. Like doing math that kids would be doing in middle school."

"Oh, you've seen."

"Seen? She's shown me. One day I was going over these papers and wondering why the numbers weren't coming out. Then she looked at it for a minute and told me what was wrong. So you know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah. When she was in kindergarten, she would get done with her work extremely fast. The teachers would give her more work, but it would be too easy for her. Then they tested her. And they told me that I should sign her up for a school for the gifted and I did. She got in, but I couldn't afford it. But they really wanted her at the school so that they could hone her gift, so they got her a sponsor."

"But she still wears the uniform for that private school."

"Because she does go there. Every morning until lunch she is at the Catholic private school. All of her friends are there. Then until three thirty, she is at the gifted school."

"And she's handling it?" Don asked.

"With ease. She is put into stressful situations every day, but I have never seen her fazed. Then after school, she either has dance, or piano, or Tae Kwon Do. And I know she's doing a lot more than kids her age, but she wants to be involved in everything. And she isn't falling behind in her classes or stressed. I don't get it. But then I remember that the school she's in has got her so well organized and put into situations where she can argue with me and I forget that she's only six-years-old."

"So your daughter is like a prodigy or something?"

"I don't know," she replied honestly. "I'm just saying that she's gifted."

"I guess that's what I'll say too," he said as he parked his car outside their apartment complex.

"Please, don't treat her any differently, Don."

Don turned off his car and looked at her. "That's the last thing I would ever do," he answered sincerely.

"Thanks, Don. Gosh, I feel like I've said to you a hundred times in the past few weeks," she laughed. "You know that Ella and me love you, right?"

"Of course. I love both of you too."

"Thanks for the roses and ice cream. Good night, Don," she replied as she stepped out of the car.

She opened the backseat and gook her daughter in her arms. She then took the roses and held it the best she could. She shook her head as Don came over to try and help her. "Good night, Nat," he replied as he closed his door to his car.

**Okay, so I got home from college and I watched all of the episodes that my mom recorded for me. And I actually got to watch the Season 2 finale again. I was hoping to post a chapter during my break, but I was super busy with family and everything. But now I'm back in Oregon. Sorry that it took so long for me to update this, but I've recently been inspired with the episodes. This chapter is more of a filler. So I'm going to skip a few days in the week and go to Saturday. In other words, the day before Charge of this Post. Thanks to all the loyal readers and I hope that this turned out all right. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I own the characters that no one has ever heard of before. And this chapter is a little heavy.**

Natalie and Ella walked to their apartment both with their hands completely full. Natalie had her purse in her left hand hand, her video camera bag on the same side shoulder, her daughter's Tae Kwon Do trophy in her right hand, and her apartment key on her pinky finger. Ella on the other hand had her sports bag over her shoulder, her piano book bag in one hand, and her new belt that she had just won in the other.

Natalie unlocked her door to the apartment and creaked the door open. The disruptive sounds that were just muffled by the thick door were amplified as she and her daughter walked in.

Natalie sighed, obviously irritated when she saw Charlie sitting at the dining table with two other guys, playing poker, and obnoxiously loud because they were drunk or almost drunk. She never got to know the other guys' names because she didn't care. Usually there were four of them, so she just expected the last one to be in the bathroom or something.

"Ella, go in your room and lock your door," Natalie said to her daughter.

"Okay," she replied walking away.

She unlocked her door as fast as she could and got into her room. Ella closed her door and locked it just like her mom told her to. She turned one her light and gasped at what she saw. And it wasn't a good gasp. It was a surprised and scared gasp. And her surprise caused her to drop everything in her hands to the floor.

One of Charlie's friends was sitting on her bed. "Hey, there. What's your name?" the man slurred, obviously drunk.

"My mom said to never talk to strangers."

"My name is Tom. Now we're not strangers," he said sticking out his hand covered with a spider web tattoo.

Tom slid off the bed and sauntered over to the little girl with unsteady steps. Ella trembled as she tried to reach for the lock on the door. Tom moved to grab her, but she backed into the door. She opened her mouth and let out an ear-shattering scream.

Tom drew his hand back and covered his ears. After almost two minutes of screaming, Ella stopped and Tom advanced on her once again. She kicked him hard in the knee and because he was so drunk, he fell forward, hitting his head on one of her drawers. He fell unconscious right before his head hit the ground. Ella leaned against her wall and slid to the floor. "Ella? What's going on in there?" Natalie yelled.

Ella shook where she sat. "Gabriella! Open the door!"

Ella watched her door shake from her mom fighting to get in. "Gabriella!" Natalie screamed at the top of her lungs. She panicked and took her key out and opened the door.

When she entered her daughter's room, she saw her huddled in her wall. "Gabriella, what's wrong?" Natalie looked around and saw an unconscious man on the ground. "Ella?" she asked wrapping her arms around the small figure. "Tell me what happened."

"No," she said pushing her mom away.

Ella stood up and ran out of her room and apartment. Tears clouded her vision as she ran down the hallway to the only place she felt safe.

LRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR

Don wished for more days like this one. This was the best he had felt since he had gotten sick, because he was completely over his cold. His day went as smooth as it could go, and he was able to go out with some of the guys from work and shoot some pool. He was on call for tomorrow so, if he wanted to, he could have drank until he couldn't drink anymore. But by the end of the night, he only had one drink. And that was enough for him.

He got back home, took a shower, and settled on his couch, waiting for something exciting to come on the television. He sat surfing through all of the channels for what seemed like the tenth time since he had gotten home when he heard someone pounding on his door, but he welcomed the interruption.

Don looked through the peephole and saw Ella standing there. "Ella," he said as he opened the door, "what are you-oomph."

He was interrupted when she walked forward and threw her arms around his legs. It took a few seconds for him to realize what was happening before he put his arms around her. "I don't want to go back," she mumbled.

"Come on, Ella. Let's go inside," Don said. He picked her up with ease and carried her to the couch. He put her on it, and knelt down in front of her. "Does your mom know you're here?"

"I don't want to go back," she repeated softer than before.

"Ella, what happened? Come on, you know you can tell me anything. Ella, come on shorty. You're scaring me here, give me something to work with." The little girl in front of her stayed silent. "Why don't you go take a shower and we can talk about it after, okay?"

Without giving any sign of acknowledgement whether she heard him or not, she stood up and walked to the bathroom. Don watched her disappear down the hallway. He walked into his extra bedroom and took out some clothes that belonged to her. When she would take showers at his house, she would sometimes forget to bring her clothes home, so Don washed them and kept them for when she didn't have any extras. He walked to the bathroom and tapped on the door. "Ella, I'm gonna leave your clothes on my bed, okay?"

He waited for a response, and was rewarded with silence. His head drooped and he put his clothes on his bed. He returned to his living room and dropped on his couch. When he heard the bathroom door open, he craned his neck to look down his hallway. He heard his room door close and he waited. After a few minutes he felt the urge to check up on her. He knocked on his door when he didn't hear a sound. "Ella? El, you okay in there?"

He opened up the door and saw the little girl leaning against his bed with her knees tucked to her chest. "Ella?" he said softly not wanting to startle her. He took a seat next to her and paused for a reply.

She looked up to him with lifeless eyes that sent chills down Don's spine. "He was on my bed," she whispered.

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"Charlie?"

"No. Can't remember. There was a spider web on his hand."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"I'm tired."

"Here, why don't you sleep in my bed tonight?" Don picked her up and let her lie down on his bed. Someone pounded on Don's apartment door and the little girl on Don's bed visibly tensed. "It's okay. I'll go see who it is; you just try and get some sleep."

Don left the door to his room ajar and went to see how was at his door, although in the pit of his stomach he knew who it was. He unlocked the door and on the other side was a frantic Natalie. "Is my daughter in there, Don?"

"Yeah. She's in my room trying to sleep. Something got her really spooked."

"Let me see her," Natalie said trying to push through the large man in the doorway.

Don grabbed her and held her in place by her shoulders. "Not when you're like this."

"I need to see her. See if she's okay. She needs me. God, I didn't know, Don. I didn't know."

Don eased her out into the hallway and sat her down. He took a seat next to her like he did a few weeks ago, but this time he wasn't in his boxers. "What didn't you know?"

"I always tell her to lock her door before we leave. And I double check it too."

"Natalie, what happened?"

"The bastard must've picked her lock."

"Natalie!" Don yelled, not liking what she had just said. "What the hell happened?"

"I told Ella to go in her room after we got back and lock the door because Charlie had his friends over. One of the bastards was in her room." She paused and took a deep breath. "She screamed and I tried to get to her because I didn't know what was happening, but her door was locked because I told her to do that. And there was a crash. Then when I finally got in she was crying on the floor and the man was unconscious."

Don couldn't take listening to her anymore. He stood up and marched down the hall and up two floors to Natalie's place. "Open up!" he yelled as he pounded on the door. "I'll break the-"

Charlie opened it, interrupting the detective, and eyed down the large. "I thought I told you to-"

"I don't give a damn what you told me," Don replied. He forced himself into the apartment and scowled at the mess it was in. "Where is he? And don't you dare try and play stupid with me."

"I don't know who you're talking about."

"I know you know who I'm talking about, Charlie. Tell me where he is."

"Don, I made them all leave. I told them to never come back or I'd call the cops," Natalie said stepping into her apartment.

"Give me a name," Don hissed. "Or I swear to God-"

"What? What are you gonna do, huh? You can't do nothing."

"Don, just leave. Please."

"Grab some of your things, you're staying at my place tonight."

"Don, I can't."

"Nat, your daughter needs you. And I don't trust this guy."

"Don."

"Whatever. It's your life. But don't forget that it's your daughter's too. And I really don't like that your own daughter doesn't even feel safe in her own place."

Don stormed out of the room leaving a stunned Natalie and a fuming Charlie behind.

Don made his way back to his place and opened it to find Ella asleep on his couch. He didn't know if it was okay to smile. He was happy she was asleep but he was sad at the situation. He walked over and saw her arm wrapped around Clark with her blanket pooling at her feet. He pulled it up to her chin and kissed her on the forehead.

He brushed her hair back and tried to come up with any reason why anyone would want to hurt this little girl. "I'm sorry, Ella," Don whispered. "I don't know if you can hear me, but I promise I won't let anything happen to you again. Not if I can stop it. I know that you're tired and you like sleeping on my couch, but I'm tired too, so I'm gonna sleep in my room. If you need me, I'll be in there. Good night, Ella."

He knelt down and kissed her on the forehead. "Good night, dad," she replied, and this time Don wasn't surprised.

Don heard a knock on his door and again he knew who it was. He opened the door and saw a duffel bag on the floor and Natalie wiping tears from her cheeks on the other side. "Nat, I'm sorry. I had no right to say what I did, or at least, say it the way I did," Don said apologetically.

"I thought about what you said," she said, pretty much ignoring his apology.

"And?"

"And I realized that my daughter means more to me than that he ever will. You were right. I broke up with him, Don. I did it," she said through a strained voice.

Don was surprised. He knew that she would choose Ella over Charlie any day, but to break up with him that same night caught him a little off guard. "I'm proud of you," Don replied, really meaning it.

"Thank you."

Don picked her duffel bag off the floor, led her to his dining table and sat her down. He walked to the kitchen and grabbed her a glass of water because she really looked like she needed it. Natalie picked up the glass with unsteady hands. Don gently took the cup out of her shaking hands and set it on the table. "My God, Don. She could have gotten…" her voice trailed off.

"Don't think like that," Don replied, knowing where Natalie was going with that thought.

"But she could have," she said raising her voice.

"Shhh…" Don said pointing to the couch. "But she didn't. She took care of herself. She knocked a man who was probably a lot bigger than her unconscious. She's strong, maybe not yet physically, but mentally. And she's smart."

"But if it was any other girl."

"Your daughter isn't like any other girl."

"What do I say to her?"

"Anything she needs you to say."

"Don," she whispered needed him to help her through this.

Don stood up and waited. Natalie followed and cried into his chest. Don put his arms around her and just stood here like she needed him to do. "Did you love him?" he asked when she looked like she was calming down.

"No," she replied with ease. "He never treated me badly, but he never treated me well either."

"I'm not going to pretend that I'm not excited that he's gone, because I'm glad he is, but is he still going to be in the apartment."

She pulled away from him and wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I gave him a week to find somewhere else to stay."

"So does that mean Ella isn't coming down here anymore?" he asked with sadness in his voice.

"That is completely up to her," Natalie replied with a laugh.

"Natalie, I'm proud of you. You know I'm here for you."

"I know. I know."

A silent pause passed between them. Natalie went onto her tiptoes to kiss Don, and he leaned down to kiss her back. The kiss lasted for a few seconds before Don pulled away. "Natalie, I can't."

"I know," Natalie replied. "I'm sorry."

"I mean, you just broke up with a guy you've been seeing for half a year, your daughter almost got attacked. You aren't thinking straight."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Don't ever be when it comes to your daughter. I'd be surprised if you didn't freak out."

"You mean like how you did?"

"Yeah, I shouldn't have done that. I just…"

"Acted like you would have if she were your own child. She might as well be," Natalie laughed.

"Nat."

"You know, Don. Even when I tell Ella that Charlie is moving out, and she can just go straight home, she will still be in your apartment every Tuesday and Thursday. I just know it."

"That's just fine with me."

"Look, Don. I'm tired. Do you mind if I sleep in your guest room tonight?"

"Of course not. If you want to, you can shower. You know where that is, I mean, your place is just like mine. But make yourself at home, for as long as you need to. Goodnight, Natalie," Don ended.

"Goodnight, Don."

With that, he walked to his room and closed the door. He welcomed the sleep that was on its way.

LRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR

The most irritating noise in the universe invaded Don's eardrums the following morning. It wasn't actually the noise that irritated him; it was the fact that the noise was irritating him on a Sunday morning. He sat up and snatched the phone off of his dresser so that it would stop ringing. "Flack," he answered. "Yeah," he replied. "What? Where?" he asked after he heard about what was going on. "Okay, I'll be right down."

Don hopped out of bed and got ready as quickly as he could. He washed his face because he didn't have time to take a shower and put on his suit and tie. He tried to be as quiet as possible because he didn't want to wake up Natalie and Ella.

He made his way to his living room and heard his television. He peaked out of the hallway and saw Ella sitting on the couch with Clark at her side and the remote in her hand. "Ella, what are you doing awake?"

"I always wake up this early on Sunday," she replied.

"Why?"

"Make breakfast. And my cartoons. You going to work?"

"I thought that they're called Saturday morning cartoons for a reason."

"They're nothing too special on Saturday. The best cartoons are on Sunday," she said turning down the volume on the TV. "So are you going to work?" she asked again.

"Yeah."

"On a Sunday?"

"Unfortunately, crime doesn't care what day of the week it is."

"Lame. Oh, well. By the way, nice tie."

"You like it?"

"I love it. My favorite colors. But it's crooked," she said tilting her head a little.

"Can you fix it for me?"

"Okay," Ella said with a giant smile on her face. Don took a seat next to Clark on the couch and Ella leaned over to fix his tie. After a few minutes she tilted her head again and smiled. "Perfect. Now you're ready to go and save the world. But not without something to eat."

Ella stood up from the couch and walked toward the kitchen. Don followed her, knowing that if he didn't, he'd be in for a fight. She pulled out the warmer under the stove and sitting there was a plate of eggs and bacon. "This for me?"

"Only if you're going to eat it? But you're probably in a rush."

"I'll take some of it with me. But I have to head out."

As if reading his mind, she handed a paper plate off to him. "Okay."

Don stacked on the eggs and bacon and grabbed a plastic fork. "I'll see you tonight?"

"Of course."

Don opened his front door and was about to leave when he felt the need to ask the little girl something. "By the way, Ella. Are you all right?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" she asked with a confused look on her face.

"About last night."

"I don't know what happened last night," she said honestly. "I was actually just wondering how I ended up down here."

"You don't remember?"

"Do you want to tell me?"

"Not really."

"Mr. Flack," Ella whined.

"Ella, shorty, I have to go. Maybe you'll remember on your own, but if you don't, I'll be fine with that. But I'll see you later, all right? Tell your mom where I went when she wakes up. And I don't know the details to this case so I might be working late tonight, so I don't know if you'll be awake when I get back. I have to head out, but I promise to see you later."

"Be careful!" Ella yelled just as the door slammed shut.

Don walked out of his apartment feeling a little guilty about the conversation that just took place. He didn't exactly lie to Ella, but he didn't tell her what she wanted to know. And he wanted to keep it that way. If she didn't remember what happened last night, Don could work better knowing that Ella still kept her innocence. But he really wanted to put whoever it was that got into her room in jail.

He pulled up to the scene he was called to and saw a block party getting into full swing. "Great," Don sighed.

As soon as he turned off his engine, three people walked up to his window and waited for him to step out. He locked his car door and the three men stepped back. "I'm guessing that you guys found the body?" Don asked. They all nodded. "Lead the way and tell me what happened."

The four men walked over to the scene and looked over the body. Don wrote down all of the information in his notebook so he would be ready by the time Mac and the other CSIs got down to the scene.

He left the building and walked down the street. The block party was livening up, which wasn't a good thing for a crime scene to be so close. He looked down the street and the first CSI he saw was Mac. He pointed him in the direction toward the body.

The next person that he saw was Lindsay, who had pulled up in an SUV. He made his way through the crowd and began to brief her about the case. "Mac's around back with the DOA."

**Yes, I know it took forever for me to get this chapter up, but college isn't exactly a walk in the park. I know I use that excuse a lot, but it's true. So the last time that I watched Charge of this Post was in the beginning of January, so if some details don't match up to my story, I'm sorry. Just try and see where I was trying to link everything up. Thanks to everyone who is reading this story still. I really hope this turned out fine and I haven't lost my touch. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: You should know by know what I do and do not own. But if you've forgotten, I own Ella, Natalie, and just basically anyone that isn't really a part of the show.**

Danny stood at the entrance of the hospital for what seemed like and could have possibly been the hundredth time in the passed few weeks. He's been to this hospital before. For suspects, for victims. But this time it hurt so much more. Because it was for his friend. And not just any friend, his best friend.

Don Flack.

The man who had been his rock so many times before, but to see him in anything less than the witty, smart talking friend who was always there for him was frightening. He had been avoiding coming back to Trinity General until Don regained consciousness but he and the team weren't allowed to go back to work and he had no where else to go. And it didn't help that the one person he could have went to vent about all of this, was the one he was there to visit.

"God, I hate this place," he said to himself as he waited for the elevator doors. He hated the way it smelled of cleanliness and medicine. He hated how as soon as he stepped into the hospital he felt the anxiety emanating from everyone there. Even those with fake smiles plastered on their faces. But most of all he hated the fact that he was there to visit someone and not for a case.

It didn't help that his older brother was also a patient in a room a few floors below Don. He got into the elevator and anxiously rocked in his place as he waited to get to Don's floor. He walked to the front desk on the floor and waited for the nurse to finish the call she was on. She hung up the phone and looked at the blue-eyed detective. "Can I help you?" she asked sweetly.

"Yeah, I wanted to know if there have been any changes to Detective Don Flack's condition."

"And who are you?"

"I'm on Detective Mac Taylor's team. And he's my friend."

"Oh. Well, Detective Mac just left and the rest of his team just left him. I'm surprised that you weren't with them."

Her words stung him without even meaning to. "I've had my share of hospitals these passed few months. If I could, I'd never step into one of these ever again. But my job requires me to, and my brother and best friend are patients here." Danny stopped for a second feeling like he had just divulged his entire life story. "So how's Flack doing?"

"According to Detective Taylor, Mr. Flack responded to him when he asked him to squeeze his hand. But he hasn't fully regained consciousness yet. Apparently he keeps slipping in and out of it. A fighter that friend of yours."

"Yeah. He is."

"If you want to, you can go see him."

"Thanks."

Danny walked down the hallway as slow as possible. He wanted to drag out seeing one of his good friends hurt as long as he could. He got to the room and sent a glance inside just like the one when he gave before he left Don to give Lindsay a ride home that night, when Don would have stayed if their places were reversed.

The reason he left was because every time he looked at Don, all he would see was when they brought him out of the building, bloodied and not sure of his condition. From where he was standing, it looked as if he was as sure as dead. But as he got closer, he could see Don's eyes rolling into the back of his head and the unsteady breathing pattern. As pained as it looked, he was happy that he was breathing. He couldn't stand the thought of Don not making it through this.

How he regretted leaving the hospital since the case was finished. He wanted to be the one who brought Don back from unconsciousness, but he knew that Mac needed the closure. And Danny needed to give it to him.

What affected Danny the most was that if any other person besides Mac were with Don the moment that the bomb went off, Don wouldn't be alive. He would have laid in that building with his insides hanging out and no chance of living. Funny how fate chose Mac, who, sadly, had lived through that moment once before, to be in the building with him. And Danny thanked whoever there was to thank that it didn't have the same results as the past.

He finally walked into the room and pulled up a chair next to Don's bedside. He just sat there for a few minutes, inspecting his friend. All he saw was a lot of wires and machines working to keep alive an unmoving body. If he could see through the bandages covering Don's torso, he would see it looking it was run through a shredder.

After minutes of trying to figure out what to say, Danny settled for "Hey, Flack." He knew it was lame, but it worked for him. "So I heard that you're getting better. The nurse up front said that you heard Mac talking to you. That's a great sign. By the way, she was totally checking me out."

He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "You gotta wake up, Flack. You've been asleep for too long. Come on. I know you can hear me.

"You have to be okay. This is too much. Louie's still in a coma. Aiden's gone. You're pretty much all I got left. Who else am I gonna play basketball against? There isn't anyone else who's gonna have my back like you do. I need you to be okay, man."

Danny stood up abruptly and kicked the chair back against the wall. "You know what!" he yelled. "Damnit, Flack," he whispered after he had calmed himself down

He turned to face the hallway and wiped his face. If he wasn't so cried out from his brother and Aiden, he would have shed a few tears for his best friend. But he knew that unconscious or not, Don would have given him a hard time about it. The thought brought him a little comfort and a soft smile to his face.

"Sorry, Messer," came a soft voice from behind him.

"Don?" Danny asked turning to face him. He saw his eyes open for a second before they closed again. Then his body went limp and all that could be heard was the shrill beep of him flat lining. "Don!" he yelled running to the bed.

The next thing he knew there were nurses and doctors filing into the room and dragging in all kinds of machines and medical supplies. "Sir, you need to leave the room," one of them said to him.

"Screw you!" he yelled. "Don!"

"Leave, before we call the security guards."

"Let us do our job."

Danny willingly walked out of the room and the door closed behind him. He walked over to the bench but didn't sit down. Instead, he punched the wall under the hanging picture, not caring that it was a stupid idea and it caused him some pain. "Danny? Danny, what's going on?"

"Stel?" he whispered to himself.

He turned around to see Stella and Mac standing there. "What's wrong?" Mac asked.

"I thought you guys left."

"Coffee break," Stella replied.

"Danny, what's wrong?' Mac replied more adamantly.

He slowly lifted his hand and pointed to the now closed door. "Flack… flat lined," he said softly not believing the words coming out of his mouth.

"What?" Stella asked, not believing it either.

"The doctors are in there right now," Danny said.

His superiors rushed to the window to watch as the doctors worked to save the detective's life. Mac held his breath as they shocked Don's body with the defibrillator and his body jerked off the bed. "I thought that he was going to be fine? Weren't the doctors were just waiting for him to wake up?" Stella asked.

"Danny, I want you to know that if he doesn't—"

"Don't be saying stuff like that, Mac. He's gonna be okay. He spoke to me before he flat lined. He said he was sorry," he said with guilt. "I made him apologize for getting hurt. He can't die thinking that I was pissed off at him."

"Danny," Stella pushed, trying to bring Danny back to reality. She grabbed him by the wrists and forced him to look at her.

Danny jerked out of her grasp, not in a way to hurt her, just to let her know that it was too much for him to handle. "I can't be here right now," Danny said.

He walked down the hallway, away from the room as fast as he could. He stood at the elevator doors and waited for it to open. He got in and pressed the number that he has pressed so many times he was sure his fingerprint was engraved in it. The familiar ding sounded and he jetted out of the doors. He headed down the hallways that have become so familiar to him that it was automatic.

He opened the door and lying there was Louie. Like he did in Don's room, he took a chair and pulled it up to the bedside. But this time he didn't say anything. He just sat.

He didn't know how much time had passed before he heard the walk that he could recognize anywhere. "Is the universe that messed up, Stel, that it would take away my two best friends and my brother, all in the same year?" He asked as soon as the footsteps stopped. But he didn't look back to face her.

"Danny, I don't know what you're thinking, but your brother is still here."

"And what about, Don?"

"They've stabilized him. You know you can't get rid of him that easily."

"How is Mac taking it?"

"I'm more concerned about you at the moment."

Danny stayed silent for a second. He looked at his brother then took his pale hand in his. "He spoke to me, Stel. He heard every word I said to him about him needing to fight, and me needing him to be okay, he heard. And then I got mad at him."

"Why?"

Danny squeezed his brother's hand and let out a shaky exhale the one word that broke him down. "Because, he… he's supposed to be the stronger of the two of us. I don't know. I'm not saying he's weak. It's just that I don't know what I'd do if I lost him. I don't get along to well with my family. My brother is here. Aiden is gone. And…"

"And what about us?" she asked, hurt.

Danny recognized the tone and stood to face her. "No offense, Stel, but my behavior is too erratic for you guys. And you know as well as anyone how good of a friend Flack is. How he doesn't judge."

"You think we judge you, Danny?"

"No. But it's Don."

"He's going to be all right."

"I know."

"Would it help if you went up to see him?"

"Not right now."

"Danny, your friend needs you."

"No, he doesn't. I'm the person that made him flat line a few minutes ago. I think I'm the last person that he needs right now."

"But you brought him back into consciousness," Stella argued. She looked into the younger detective's eyes and her heart broke. "There's something else isn't there? Because I know that you want to be there for your friend. What's stopping you?"

"Do you remember that moment Mac came out of the building, covered in debris, but you were still relieved to see him alive?"

"I felt like I forgot how to breathe. But as soon as I saw Mac, it was okay."

Danny stopped and thought about if he was really going to ask Stella the next question. He sighed and continued. "Now do you remember how you felt as soon as you saw the medics hauling Flack out of there. Not knowing if he was a live or dead?"

"My heart sank," Stella whispered. "My eyes weren't letting me believe that it was Don on that stretcher. I kept thinking that my eyes were playing tricks on me."

Danny sat back down in the chair. "Mine still are."

Stella could have sworn that her heart stopped beating for that second. "What?" she choked out.

"I can't see the Flack that I knew before the explosion. All I see is him on that stretcher. I kept thinking that I had lost him too. Now I'm never sure if he's alive or dead. And the only time that I saw him as he was, just lying in the hospital bed, was when he spoke to me."

"Danny, come on. You know that Don's alive. He's still here."

"I know he is. I keep telling myself that he's lying in the hospital just waiting to wake up, but my eyes won't let me believe it. Stella, I have to go," Danny said standing up once more.

He headed out the door, not looking back or saying bye to his brother or Stella. Stella walked to the doorway and waited. "Danny, why did you go to your brother's room?"

"What?" he asked stopping.

"Why didn't you just leave? Why did you come down here?"

"I don't know, Stel."

"You wanted to see if you could wake him up too, didn't you."

"Don't try to read my mind, Stel. Because I guarantee that you won't be able to."

"Just tell me why you came to see your brother."

"He's my brother."

"I just wanted—"

"Stella. I almost killed my best friend. I'm a wreck right now. I need to get out of here before I say or do something I regret. But if anything happens with Don, good or bad, call me."

"I'll do that," Stella said reassuringly.

"Thanks, Stel."

"Get some rest," she finished before kissing him on the cheek. She turned on her heels and walked back toward the elevators.

"If only."

Danny walked out of the hospital and toward his SUV. He got into his car and started to drive. It would have made sense if he drove back to his place, or a bar, but he drove towards Don's apartment. He thought that maybe he could keep it tidy or something until Don got better since he had a spare key.

He parked his car in front of the complex and got out. He walked up the five stairs to get to the opening of the door and just stood there, contemplating. He thought about if it was really worth it to go in there and just start moving around Don's things.

He decided that it wasn't the best idea to be in Don's apartment in the condition he was in. He got back into his car and drove back to his place. "Tomorrow. Yeah, tomorrow," he conceded. "I'll grab some of his things and then go visit him. Tomorrow."

**So, I rewatched the finale, since I finally bought the second season on DVD, and I'm still so disappointed with Danny leaving to give Lindsay a ride. That's why I wrote this chapter. I'm pretty sure this is the angsty-est thing I've ever written. Thanks for all of the great reviews for the last chapter. I'm sorry I couldn't write more about Don, but it's hard to write about a person in a sort of coma. The next chapter is going to be a lot lighter than the past two have been. Thanks for reading. And please review. Lil-Rock**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: You know the drill. Ella and Natalie.**

_Italics are flashbacks_

After Danny went home, he drank a couple of beers before he finally settled down and fell into a fitful night of sleep. He awoke every hour to the nonexistent sound of Don flat- lining, with each hour ending with him sitting up, breathing hard, sweating, then trying to fall back asleep. By four o'clock the next morning, he had given up and just sat on his couch staring at a blank television screen.

When the sun peeked through his window, Danny squinted, swore, and shut the blinds, allowing him sit in the dark for a few more hours. He sat watching TV, specifically Sports Center, catching up on all the sports he missed because of work.

By noon, he had gotten washed up and into a fresh set of clothes. He jumped into his car and drove down to the lab hoping that there was something for him to do.

He had gotten about ten feet into the lab before he heard the cursed words, "You need to leave, Danny."

"What? I just got here."

"You shouldn't be here in the first place," one of the CSIs.

"Aw, come on," Danny pleaded. "I could help you. Run trace. DNA. I could even just run stuff from one place to another."

"No. Mac would have my head. Leave."

"Look. Mac doesn't have to know. Just keep this between us."

"Danny, Mac has eyes like a hawk. And he'll know because I'm gonna be the one to tell him. If you're not out of here in one minute, I'm calling him."

The threat widened Danny's eyes. "Don't do that."

"Danny, just take your break that Mac requested for all of you. Go take care of your friend, because, Lord knows, he'll need it. And you got thirty-seven seconds to get out of here."

Danny realized that this person was serious by the fact that she was actually keeping track of the seconds that had gone by. He waved to her and was out the door. As bored as he was, he didn't want and didn't have the energy to endure the wrath of Mac.

So, he got into his car and drove in the direction of Don's apartment thinking that it was the perfect time to clean up and pick up some things for him. And he was hoping that it would keep him occupied for at least a few hours.

He got to his destination somewhat easily. There wasn't much traffic and the music playing in his car put him in a good and relaxed mood.

Danny got to Don's apartment door and he paused before opening it. He could have sworn that he heard sounds coming from the other side of it.

His hand went to his hip where his gun would have been if he hadn't put it away when he was kicked out of the lab. He had no reason to carry it around. At least he thought so. He cautiously opened the door hoping to find nothing dangerous on the other side.

What he did find was a little girl sitting at Don's coffee table with a pencil in her hand, concentrating on a sheet of paper in front of her. The television was on, but there was minimal sound coming from it. _**Wait! What is a little girl doing sitting at Don's coffee table? **_he thought. "He would tell me if he had a daughter, wouldn't he?" Danny whispered to himself.

She reached for the remote without looking for it and turned off the TV. "Mr. Flack, I've been waiting…" her voice waned when she finally looked up to see who was standing at the door. "You're not Mr. Flack."

Danny got his voice back after the little girl spoke. "Who the heck are you?" he asked. He didn't sound threatening, just really confused. "What are you doing in Flack's apartment?"

"Um… I… He…" she stuttered. "I live a few floors up. He lets me come in while I wait for my mom."

"Okay, so that answers the question of why you're here. Now who are you?"

The little girl stood up and walked toward him. He slowly backed away as she walked toward him. "Ella. Gabriella Corson. I'm sorry. Maybe…" she said walking toward her bag to pick it up.

"Don't worry about it. You know his name. You obviously know him," Danny said stopping her from trying to leave.

"Who are you?"

"Name's Danny Messer. I'm a friend of his. I work with him."

"So, you're a cop like him."

"Not exactly."

"Well, anyway, it's nice to meet you. So… where's Mr. Flack?"

He saw that the little girl standing in front of her had no idea about how Don was involved in the explosion a few days ago. "Um…" he struggled to find the right words. "He's in the hospital. He was… There was an accident. I'm just picking up a few things for him. And I was gonna clean this place up, but it looks like there is nothing to clean. That's good."

"Is he okay?" Ella asked. She stopped listening after the word 'accident'.

"Of course," he sort of lied. "He's just recovering in the hospital."

"Oh. Can I ask you something, Mr. Messer?"

"I guess," he replied, wondering what a little girl he just met would have to ask him.

"Can I go see him? I mean, can you take me to see him?"

"What?" he replied.

"I was just wondering. Never mind," she said quickly. "I just haven't seen him in a few days. And if he's hurt… I just want to make sure that he'll be okay. 'Cause he always does that for me."

"But what about your mom."

"She doesn't get home until 9:15. You can say no."

"I wouldn't. But I wouldn't want to get into your mom's bad graces. And don't you have like homework or something?"

"I just finished. You can check if it you want to?" she walked over to the coffee table and picked up the papers she was working on.

"Is that what Flack usually does?"

"Sometimes. It's just math."

"Let me see it." She handed the papers over to Danny. "What the hell? This is double-digit division."

Ella shied away from the man. "You think I'm a freak, don't you?" she whispered.

"No. I'm just surprised. You just look like you should be in the first grade."

"I am."

"And you're doing this kind of math?" he asked.

"I'm a different kind of first grader," she said with a smile.

Danny let out a short laugh. He fanned through the sheets looking through each of the problems. He was surprised at her work at her age. "This looks right."

"Okay. So, can we go?" Ella asked again.

"Sure. Why not? He might be glad to see you," Danny said. "Do you need to bring anything with you?"

Ella walked over to her backpack and spent a minute just shaking something off of it. Danny tilted his head to try and see what it was, but the small figure blocked her way. She must have stuffed it in her pocket because by the time she was standing in front of Danny, there was nothing in her hands. "I'm ready."

"What did you grab?" he asked.

"Something. You wouldn't understand."

"Okay, let's head down to my car."

Ella reached up to grab Danny's hand and hold it, but she stopped when she realized how tense he was. She walked at his side down to his car. They got down to where he parked and stopped next to Danny's SUV. "That car is huge," she said.

Danny unlocked the back seat and opened the door. "You have to sit in the back. I'm pretty sure Flack wouldn't forgive me if I let you sit in the front." She climbed into the back seat and buckled her seatbelt. "None of my equipment is in the way, is it?" he asked.

"No," Ella said.

"If it is, just move it around. Carefully. That is some expensive stuff."

"Okay, Mr. Messer," Ella said.

Danny was about to close the door when he heard her say that. "Don't call me that," Danny said. "Just call me Danny."

"Okay, Danny," she repeated, trying it out.

He walked around the car and got in. He looked back at the little girl in the back seat. "You comfortable?" he asked. She nodded. "You buckled in?"

"You saw me buckle in," she replied in an all too familiar tone.

"I'm just double checking. Geez, you sound so much like Flack."

"Thank you," she said proudly.

Danny pulled out of the parking lot and drove toward Trinity General. The two of them sat in an awkward silence for most of the ride. About twenty minutes away from the hospital, Danny broke the silence. "So, you haven't seen Flack in a week and you didn't know about any of this? Like the explosion or anything."

"I heard about the explosion. I mean, it was hard not to hear about it. Especially from my mom. She was really worried about Mr. Flack, even though she didn't say it. She always gets nervous with big cases that involves the police, because she knows that Mr. Flack will have to be involved somehow. Well, the day the explosion happened, Mr. Flack told me that he was going to be working late. I just thought that this case was taking a lot of his time. It's happened before."

"So, you didn't know that he was caught in it?"

"He was caught in it?" Ella shrieked.

"Yeah," Danny replied figuring that there was no use lying to the girl. "So, you didn't know that much about the explosion."

"No. I don't read the newspaper or watch the news on TV. There's so much violence. So, all the news I hear about the explosion and everything, I hear from people. I know it might not be true, but at least I know a little bit. I'm a kid. I don't need to be too informed. I just have to know about addition, phonics, and how to spell words like 'quiet' and 'toilet'."

Danny laughed at the little girl in the back seat. "So, you must be a smart kid because instead of addition, you're worrying about double-digit division."

"Sometimes. I try."

"So what, your mother never taught you to never talk to strangers?" Danny asked.

"She did."

"And you don't like to listen I take it. Since, you know, you're talking to me."

"I do listen," Ella argued. "But Mr. Flack said that if someone ever comes in using a key or saying his name, they could be trusted and they weren't strangers. You did both, so that makes you not a stranger."

"I take it this has happened before?"

"Yeah, this lady with long, dark brown hair. Ms. Burn?" she asked no one in particular trying to remember her name.

"Aiden?" Danny replied.

"That's the one," Ella said snapping her fingers. "The one who when she talks you know she's from New York. Like really sounds like it."

Danny laughed at the little girl's description of Aiden's accent. "Yeah, that's her. So, what if I didn't use a key or use Flack's name. Then what would you've done?"

"Then I was supposed to either run into his room and lock the door until he came home, or go out the fire escape and call him. Then I was supposed to wait at Mr. and Mrs. Brown's bakery."

"Has that situation ever happened?"

"Yeah. With Ms. Burn," Ella said simply.

"But I thought that you said…" his voice trailed off in confusion.

"I did. Both situations happened with her. Same day. Good story."

Even though Danny was driving and facing the road, she could hear in Ella's voice that there was a smile on her face. "Care to tell?" he asked, highly amused and curious.

"It's a long story."

"Well, we're about ten minutes away from the hospital. And I'm pretty sure we're going to have to park in the structure on the top floor, so we'll have some talking time."

"Okay. I was at Mr. Flack's house one day and I was watching TV because I was already done with my homework. So, I went to the bathroom and when I came back, Ms. Burn was standing in the living room. I didn't know how she got there, so I screamed and ran into Mr. Flack's room."

"And you just waited there?"

"It wasn't very long. Because the next thing I heard was Ms. Burn scream Mr. Flack's name and then the door slam. I walked out of the room because I thought she was gone. But she came back, so I sat in the hallway. She knew who Mr. Flack was, so I wasn't scared anymore. And Mr. Flack was standing next to her. But she looked mad."

"How did you know?"

"I had never heard Mr. Flack's whole name before that day."

_Flashback_

"_Donald Flack Jr!" Aiden yelled._

"_What did I do now?"_

"_Why the heck didn't you tell me you had a daughter?"_

_Don made a face that Aiden would never forget. It was full of confusion, shock, and discomfort all rolled into one. Once he got over the shock he stared at his coworker. "What are you talking about? I don't have a daughter."_

_Aiden pushed Don in the chest. "Don't you lie to me, Flack. I saw a little girl in here."_

"_What girl—Oh," he said when he finally realized who he was talking about._

"_Yeah, 'Oh,'" Aiden mocked._

"_Gabriella!" Flack yelled. "You can come out." Ella stood up from the floor and timidly walked out into the living room, joining the two detectives. Don picked up the little girl and introduced her to Aiden. "Ella, this is Aiden. Aiden, this is Ella."_

"_Hi," Ella whispered._

"_Nice to meet you, Ella," Aiden replied. "So, how old are you?"_

_Ella just rested her head on Don's shoulder, unsure if she should answer. "It's okay, shorty," Don reassured._

"_Five," she answered a little louder than before._

"_Did you finish your homework?" Don asked. Ella lifted her head and nodded. "Why don't you go and watch something on TV."_

_He put the little girl down on the coach and she grabbed the remote. As soon as the two adults heard the TV turn on, they walked to his dining room table. Aiden pushed Don in the arm this time. "I can't believe you kept a kid from me for five years."_

"_Aiden," Don exasperated. "She's not mine."_

"_What do you mean, 'she's not yours'?"_

"_She is not my kid."_

"_Don, she's in your apartment. And you are acting very father-like toward her."_

"_I'm not her father. I'm just a father figure to her. I'm just really good friends with her mother."_

"_Why don't I believe you?"_

"_You can ask her yourself," Don challenged._

"_I'm not going to ask a four-year-old if you are her father."_

"_Five. And she'll answer you. She's a good kid."_

_Aiden accepted the challenge and took a seat next to the little girl. She was surprised to see that she didn't move away or start screaming. "Hi," Ella said._

"_What are you watching?"_

"_That's So Raven. She makes me laugh."_

_Ella laughed at something funny that happened on the show. Aiden waited until a commercial to talk to Ella. Then one came along. "Ella, I have to ask you a question." Ella lowered the volume on the TV and made eye contact with Aiden. Aiden was a little taken aback with the little girl sitting giving her her undivided attention. Something told her that the little girl was prepared to answer anything she was going to ask her. "Is Don your father?"_

_Ella shook her head from side to side. "No, he isn't," Ella said. "My dad in heaven." Aiden bit her lip at the honesty of the words coming out of Ella's mouth. "But I have a secret to tell you." Ella stood on the coach and leaned toward Aiden. She cupped her hand around Aiden's ear and whispered, "Sometimes, I wish he was."_

_Aiden laughed. Don walked over to the two on his couch. "Ella, what did you just tell her?"_

"_Don," Aiden started, "if she told you, then it wouldn't be a secret, now would it."_

_It was Ella's turn to laugh. "I like her," Ella said. "Is she your girlfriend?"_

_Aiden's jaw dropped while Don's snapped shut as he was floored by his second shocking suggestion of the day. "Um…" Aiden said. "Don."_

"_We just work together. Sometimes," Don finished._

"_That didn't answer my question, Mr. Flack," Ella said._

"_She is a smart kid," Aiden said._

"_Yeah, too smart for her age. Especially for things like this."_

"_We're not boyfriend and girlfriend," Aiden said trying not to laugh at how ridiculous it sounded explaining it to a little girl. "We're just friends."_

"_So, why are you here?"_

"_Because, my car broke down, and Don, being the friend he is, brought me here while we wait for my car to get fixed."_

"_Okay, that's cool. Mr. Flack is a really good friend."_

"_That he is," Aiden agreed._

_End Flashback_

"That he is," Danny repeated.

The story brought a smile to Danny's face as he imagined the entire conversation playing out in front of him. From Aiden yelling at Don, to Ella asking if they were together. He then got to thinking about how betrayed Aiden must have felt when he realized that although Ella wasn't his daughter, Don kept this secret from her. Because he knew Don longer, he felt a lot more disappointment that he didn't know about Ella. Danny could guarantee that if Aiden hadn't walked into the apartment on that day, she would have never known about the little girl.

Danny was going to ask Don about that when he was able to answer.

They got to the hospital and didn't have to park as far as Danny said they would. Danny helped Ella out of the car and made sure she was close at his side as they walked toward the hospital entrance. "Good story, right?" Ella asked.

"Yeah," Danny said with a short laugh. "So, what did you think of Aiden?"

"She was great," Ella said. "She was beautiful, tough, funny…"

Her voice trailed off with her description of the woman, and all Danny could do was nod and smile in agreement.

**Okay, so Ella and Danny have finally met. Entertaining? I hope so. I have a chapter lined up and it has Don in it. I enjoyed writing this chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it. Well, thanks to everyone for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: You should know what or who I own by now. I just own the people that have never crossed the television screen before.**

Don walked through an unfamiliar place trying to find a way out. He would have asked someone for directions, going against the stereotypical male code of law, but there was no one. And he meant no one.

So, he kept walking. He didn't know for how long. It could have been minutes. Hours. Days. Every direction looked the same. And every direction just led to more empty space. But he needed to get out of there.

Then he saw someone. He ran toward the figure hoping that it wasn't just an illusion. The closer he got, he saw that it was a woman. And although he should have been scared that she was the only other person in this place, he felt a strange pull of familiarity toward her.

He got to a few feet behind her and saw her long, brown hair cascading down her back. He reached up to tap her on the shoulder, but he stopped a few inches away. "Excuse me, but do you know…" the woman turned around at the sound of his voice. "Aiden?" he forced out. "But you're supposed to be dead."

Aiden sent a soft smile to Don. "If you wanna play this game, Flack, you're supposed to be alive."

"But I'm not. I mean. I can't be if I'm here talking to you."

Aiden threw her arms around her tall friend and smiled. Her smile quickly faded into anger. "What the hell are you doing here, Flack?" she yelled, pushing him away from her.

"I don't—" he started, scared of the small woman standing in front of him.

"Get back there, Don. Who the hell is gonna watch Danny if we're both gone?" Aiden asked.

"He has—" Don started.

Aiden knew where he was going with that statement the instant he started. "You really think that Mac and Stella can handle him? You've got to be kidding me."

"Aiden, I just—" he tried to get out another word, but he was interrupted again.

"No. I don't care if it hurt. You're a lot stronger than that. Of course you're gonna feel pain. But I don't give a damn," Aiden said in what seemed like one breath.

Don ran his hand over his face in frustration. He knew that he wasn't going to get anywhere in this conversation, but he wasn't going anywhere soon, so he knew he had to keep trying. "That's not—"

"You have to get back to the land of the living," she said. She had slowly calmed down and Don could hear it in her tone. "You're too young to be here. You need to get shot at a few more times. Run down a few more punks. Grow old, find someone you love, and have a dozen kids."

Don could swear she heard some of her own dreams in those words. The dreams that were taken away by the sick man who killed her. But he took her somberness as a his chance to finally get some words in. "Aiden! Let me talk, will you?" he said louder than her little rant. She looked up to him and their eyes met. "I want to get out of here. But I don't know how."

"Keep fighting. You're almost there," she said. Tears fell down her face and she would have wiped them if Don hadn't got to them first. "Don't give up. You'll be fine. I have faith in that."

"Geez, Aiden. I've missed you," he said honestly. "And I know that Danny's going crazy without you."

"No, surprise there."

"He needed you."

"I was there for him. Like you were."

"Then you were killed."

"He has that lady. What's her name? The one who got my job when I resigned."

"I'm sure that she can't handle him."

"Me neither. You gotta get back now. And tell Danny I'm okay."

"Are you, Aiden?" Don asked.

"Flack. I'm dead. The only thing I can't stand is watching you guys from up here and not being able to do anything about it. I swear, it's like watching a soap opera and you can't help but yell at the characters because you're so frustrated."

"That bad, huh?"

"You don't know how hard I wanted to punch Danny when he left the hospital after you were hurt."

That statement was definitely news to him. "He left?" Don asked.

"Don't blame him, Don."

"Why would I?"

"I know you wouldn't, Don. But… I know that you expected him to stay."

"I did. But I understand. If I was in his place I'd have probably done the same thing."

Aiden sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "He must feel like everyone around him that he's ever cared about is leaving him."

"It's not like we have a choice," Don tried to defend.

"Hey, you have a choice to go back and make sure he doesn't self-destruct. Or…" her voice trailed off. "As much as I enjoy having you around here, you need to be getting back." She didn't want to give Don a choice.

"It might be awhile," he said. "So, since you've been spying on us or at least have the ability to, you want to tell me what Danny's up to right now?"

"He's on his way to visit you. Again. But he's not alone. He's bringing someone along."

"Who?"

"Ella," she whispered with a hope that he didn't hear her.

"What?" he yelled, and it echoed. "He can't be bringing her to the hospital to see me. Danny, what are you thinking? She's only six years old."

"How is that girl, anyway?" Aiden asked, wanting to know and trying to get him less mad at their friend.

And it worked. "I'm not sure. After what happened on Saturday, I didn't know if she was going to be okay. But she can't remember what happened."

"But…" Aiden's voice trailed knowing that he wanted to say more.

"But she's good besides that. Really, Aiden. You know that. You met her. You know how great she is."

"You mean after I got over the fact that she wasn't a secret daughter that you had and didn't tell me about."

"Yeah, about that," he laughed.

Aiden laughed as she remembered the little girl in Don's apartment. "And I can still remember the look on your face when I suggested it."

"I remember it too. I got that again a few days ago." He scratched the back of his head shyly as he remembered the old woman at the ice cream place.

"Somehow I'm not surprised about that either. I mean, by the way you treat her, I wouldn't be surprised if everyone thought she was yours. I can guaranteed that Danny thought it for a second."

"I wouldn't doubt it."

The two of them shared a laugh. After their laughter died down, a stillness filled the air and the two of them didn't speak. "But you have to get out of here," she whispered, breaking the silence. "They'll be there soon and I'm pretty sure that Ella would like to see your blue eyes."

"I know. I guess I'll see you later, Aiden." He put his arms around her and hugged her, knowing that it would be the last time.

"No, you won't," she said into his chest.

"Okay," Don agreed. He turned around and started walking in the opposite direction. He turned around to look at his friend who was also walking away. "Aiden."

"Yeah, Flack."

"Thanks," he said simply.

"For what?"

"For watching over Danny."

"And you."

"And me," he reiterated. "I miss you."

"I miss you too. And I better not see you around here until you're old. Really old."

"I'll try." And he turned and walked away.

He was glad that he saw Aiden. It gave him a chance to do something that no one else did. To say goodbye. Don smiled and continued his walk. He didn't know where he was going or if he was even going in the right direction. But he knew where he'd end up.

**Okay, first semester of Sophomore year is over. Driving me to the brink of insanity. Sorry it took so long for me to put this up. I know that it's short but, I just felt that this scene needed to be in here. Another chapter will be up soon. Thanks for sticking with me everyone who is still reading. Hope that this turned out okay. Please read and review. Lil-Rock**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I own whoever you've never heard of before reading this story.**

Danny and Ella walked into the hospital and immediately she was overwhelmed. There were a lot of visitors in the waiting room and a lot of other people just walking around with a mission. It was obvious that Ella had never been in a hospital before.

"Stay close," Danny said, pulling Ella out of her state of shock.

Danny headed toward the elevators and Ella's short legs shuffled to follow him. They were joined by a few doctors and visitors in the elevator. Ella sent them smiles and all of them returned the gesture. One of the nurses squatted down to talk to her and they carried on a small conversation as they rode to their floor.

They got to Don's floor and walked off together. Danny led the way to the front desk of the floor, while Ella was a slowly following behind looking at everything around her. The nurse was the same one from yesterday, and again, she was on the phone. She recognized him before she got off the phone. "Mr. Messer," she said after she hung up.

"Hey," Danny replied. "How is he?"

"He's good. After yesterday's scare, the doctors have been keeping a close eye on him. But he's recovering quickly."

Ella walked backward to the front desk staring at some of the doctors in their white coats and clipboards. She ran into Danny, eliciting a weird sound from him. She quickly spun around and looked up at him. "Sorry."

"It's okay. Just watch where you're going next time."

The nurse stood up from her seat and leaned over the counter to look at who Danny was talking to. When she saw the little girl, she smiled. "Hi there, sweetie," she said. "And who are you here to see?"

"I'm here to see Mr. Flack, if that's okay," Ella replied shyly.

"That's just fine, sweetie." The nurse turned to Danny. "Are you going to walk in with her?"

"Yeah, I'll show her the way." He looked down and Ella who was staring at the nurse. "Come on, kid. This way," he said and walked down the hallway to Don's room.

"I have a name, Danny. Oh, Mr. Danny."

"Oh, so you're name's Danny too, eh."

"Funny," Ella said. "So where is he?" she asked as they walked down the hall.

Danny stopped at a door and Ella followed suit. Danny pushed the door open and Ella walked in. She walked to a machine that was taller than her before she walked to Don's bedside. "Don't touch that," Danny said.

"I wasn't going to. Geez." She turned her attention to Don on the bed. "He looks like he's just sleeping."

"That's basically it," Danny said. "Look, I'll let you talk to him for awhile. I'll just be watching from the outside." Danny pulled a chair over for her to stand on. "There you go."

Danny headed to the exit of the room. "Thank you," she said as she climbed up the chair.

He paused in the doorway for a second, appreciating that she said thank you. Then he left her alone.

Ella caught a glimpse of the EKG on the other side of Don and stared at the line moving. "So many machines," she whispered. She looked at Don and brought her hand to touch the gauze on his face, but pulled back at the last second out of fear. She was shaking, and she looked like she really wanted to cry. "He's okay, Ella."

"You jinxed yourself, Mr. Flack, when you said that you haven't been a patient in a hospital for a long time," she whispered to herself. Her fingers clasped together as she twiddled her thumbs. She turned around to see Danny standing on the other side of the glass watching her.

She turned again to look at Don. She waited for a few seconds before she spoke again. "Hi, Mr. Flack." She waited again, hoping for a response. "So, I heard that you were in the hospital and I asked Mr. Messer… sorry, Danny, to take me because I wanted to see you. And so he brought me. I know that you probably think that I'm too young and everything, but I really wanted to see you. Don't be mad at him."

"So, I got an A on my math test today. I'm learning long division with Carver now. It scared Danny to see a first grader doing that homework," Ella laughed. "I—"

"Aiden?" Don whispered from his bed, his eyes closed.

"Um… no," Ella whispered. "It's Ella."

She watched as Don's eyes slowly opened. She was happy to see his eyes. "Ella?" he asked. "What?"

"Sorry," she apologized. "Did I wake you?"

"No."

She turned around and saw that Danny wasn't standing outside the room. "Should I get someone? A doctor? Danny?"

"No," Don forced out. "It's okay." He did take note that there wasn't a mister in front of Danny's name, but he didn't have the strength to mention it.

"Okay," Ella agreed. "So you want to hear about my day?" she asked. Don nodded his head slightly. "Okay. So mom wouldn't tell me what happened on Saturday. And you can't tell me. So, I'm okay with not knowing. Mom broke up with Charlie. Did you know that?" she asked.

Ella saw a small smile on his face. "Yeah."

"And you have to get better soon because you have to take me to see the new Superman movie."

"I will," he replied. His eyes were slowly shutting.

"You look tired, Mr. Flack. You should get a lot of sleep. Good night."

"Night," Don whispered.

"Love you."

"You too," Don replied, and his breathing evened out.

Ella leaned over to kiss Don on his forehead. When she leaned back over, her leg hit the railing. "Ow," she said. She reached into her pocket, wondering what she had hit. "Oh. Right. Superman," she said, pulling out her keychain. She put the ring around Don's thumb and put the figure in his palm. "Here's my best good luck charm. You need it more than I do right now." She smiled when she saw his fingers close around it.

Ella walked out of the room and saw Danny sitting on the bench outside of Don's room. "I'm done," she said. "Are you going to talk to him?"

"Sure," Danny answered. "You gonna be okay by yourself?"

"I'll talk to the nurse over there," she said pointing to the nurse at the front desk. "She looks lonely."

Before Danny could say anything else, Ella was on her way to the front desk. Danny walked into Don's room and saw him lying peacefully in his bed. He moved the chair that Ella was using to stand back against the wall.

Danny wiped his hand over his face before he returned to Don's bedside. He shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked in his place. "I don't know what I'm doing here, Don," Danny whispered.

He waited a moment before he started again. "I wasn't planning on coming back anytime soon. I mean, the last time I was here, you kind of flatlined on me," he let out a short laugh to try and diffuse the awkwardness of the situation. "Just promise you won't do it again."

Danny waited again, for a sign. "So, I brought you a visitor. Now before you get mad at me bringing a little girl here, she wanted to see you. And in my defense, Flack, I didn't know that there was going to be a little girl on the other side of your door when I opened it."

Danny let out a sigh that he felt he had been holding for forever. "How could you not tell me about her?" He paced around the room. "I thought we could tell each other everything. I know you've been keeping a few things from me about your personal life, but a little girl?"

He looked out into the hallway and back at his friend lying in the bed. "Just tell me that I'm not the last person to know about this."

Danny looked at his best friend and waited for a response that he knew he wasn't going to get. Not today at least. He didn't really know what else to say to Don. It was hard having one-sided conversations with people every time he was in the hospital to visit them.

He heard a soft knock on the door and saw Ella trying to open it. "Are you all right?" Danny asked.

"I have to use the bathroom," she whispered.

Danny pointed to Don's bathroom and she walked over to it as fast as she could without running. A few minutes passed and Danny walked over to the bathroom door wondering what was taking her so long. He looked at his watch and knocked on the door. "Eh, kid," he said. "It's time to go."

"Okay," he heard the reply muffled by the door.

She opened the door and greeted him with a smile. "What took you so long?"

"The soap here is really foamy. I was playing with it," Ella said innocently.

"Well, we have to head out. I think it's time for me take you back to Flack's apartment."

"Okay. Bye, Mr. Flack," Ella said. "You feel better soon. Love you." From her angle on the floor, she could see Don's hand close around her good luck charm again.

She walked out the door making Danny wonder if he just missed something with the way that she smiled as she walked out of the room. "I'll see you later, Don," Danny said, and he walked out.

When Danny exited the room, he saw Ella at the nurse's desk talking to her. "Bye. Goodnight," Ella said.

"Bye, sweetie. I'll see you soon, hopefully?"

"Maybe," Ella said.

The nurse turned to Danny standing over Ella. "You raised her well," she said.

"She's not mine."

"She's Detective Flack's?"

"I don't think so." Danny scratched his head and laughed. "Well, we better get going."

"Goodnight, Mr. Messer."

Danny and Ella walked over to his car without saying anything to each other. Danny unlocked his car and helped Ella into the car. He got into the car and began their drive back to Don's apartment. "So, how was it?" Danny asked, breaking the silence. "Talking to Don, I mean."

"It was okay. He looked like he was sleeping well."

"Yeah," Danny replied, not wanting to tell her that Don wasn't just sleeping. He didn't think that she would understand. Another silence fell between the two in the vehicle. "So…" his voice lingering, stalling for another conversation topic.

"So, what?" Ella asked.

"What did you talk to Flack about?" Danny would've slapped himself for asking a stupid question like that to a little girl.

But Ella was more than ready to answer it. "Just how my day was. Like usual." She paused as if to catch her breath. "He was talking too."

If he were having this conversation with someone over the phone, Danny would have slammed on the brakes of the car, giving him whiplash. But there was someone else in the car. A little girl. So he showed some restraint. "What?"

"Yeah," she replied casually, thinking that he had a conversation with Don too. "He said Miss Burn's name. And he said my name. But he was mostly listening. Then he went back to sleep. He looked really tired."

"So, he was really talking to you?" Danny asked, incredulously.

"Yeah." By that time, they had pulled into a parking space outside of Don's apartment. Danny took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a few numbers. "Who are you calling?" Fear coloring her tone.

"My boss."

"Did I do something wrong?" Ella asked, not hiding the fact that she was scared.

"No," Danny said, turning around. "Of course not," he added, trying to calm her down. "I just have to tell him the good news. So just stay put for a few minutes."

"What good news?"

"That Don's awake."

The person he was calling answered the phone, cutting his conversation with Ella short. "Mac."

"Mac, it's Danny."

"Danny. So, what is this I hear about you trying to go back to work when I told you to take a break?"

"I didn't though. I left."

"But you were still trying."

"I know. And you can reprimand me for that later. That's not why I called. I just want you to know that Flack was talking today. Like carrying on a short conversation with someone."

"With who?" Mac asked, concerned yet glad.

"A visitor of his."

"I see," Mac replied. "Are you sure?" Mac asked. He, like everyone on the team didn't want to get his hopes up too soon. "Who was this visitor?"

Danny turned around and looked at Ella who was sitting comfortably in the backseat not making a sound. "Just someone important to him." Ella glanced at Danny and smiled. "Look, Mac. I gotta go. Call me if there are any more changes."

Danny listened to Mac sigh in relief. "Okay," he resigned. "And, Danny—"

"I know, I know. I'm not going anywhere near the lab." And he hung up the phone. He looked into his backseat and saw Ella sitting on her hands waiting for Danny to tell her something. "You ready to go inside?"

"Yeah." They walked out of the car together and into the complex. They trotted up the stairs to get to Don's door and Danny waited as Ella used her key to get in. Ella quickly turned on the light and ran into the kitchen. "Okay, you can sit and watch TV. I can cook or make something for us to eat."

For some reason, Danny was compelled to listen to her, so he walked over to the couch, turned on the television, and searched for something to watch.

**Okay, I hope that this chapter was satisfactory. I'm back at school, sadly. I know, but I'm not as swamped yet, so I'll keep writing. The next chapter involves Natalie and Danny meeting. Oh, by the way, so I watched the beginning of one of the episodes of season 4, and I think that I heard Don say that he had brothers. I was wondering if it was plural, and if so, have they said how many. Because I want to give him a few siblings. Please give some input. Thanks for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I own Ella.**

Danny sat and watched TV for almost half an hour before he felt a small shift in the couch. He looked over toward the shift and saw Ella placing two plates on the coffee table. On one plate there was a grilled cheese sandwich and on the other there was a carefully constructed colossal sandwich. As quickly as she sat up, she jumped off the couch and ran back into the kitchen. "What's wrong?" Danny asked.

She ran back into the living room with a can of soda and juice box in each hand. "I forgot drinks." She stabbed the straw into her juice and started drink. "You can have your pick of sandwiches, but if you eat like Mr. Flack, I know which one you'll pick."

"You sure?" Danny asked, reaching for the bigger sandwich.

"Yeah," Ella replied. "Take it. Mr. Flack isn't here to eat it. And it would take me a week to eat that sandwich."

Danny slid the plate and the soda toward him. "If you insist." Danny grabbed the controller and handed it over to Ella. "You made dinner, you get to choose what we watch."

"Okay," Ella said, taking half of her sandwich and biting a huge chunk off of it. She surfed through a few channels before she settled on a sports channel. "This is good."

"You watch basketball?" Danny asked, impressed with the little girl's taste in television.

"Don't you?" Ella said after taking a sip of her juice. "You haven't taken a bite yet."

"I'm just thinking."

"If the food is good? Or you can't think and eat at the same time? Because I'm like that sometimes. I have to stop eating if I want to pay attention to what is happening on TV. But not all the time."

Danny could have sworn that she said all of that in one breath. "No, kid, it isn't that." He took a bite out of his sandwich so that he didn't offend her. To his surprise, the sandwich was pretty good. He took a sip of his soda and watched Ella watch the game. "You intrigue me, you know."

"I intrigue you?" she asked it like she didn't know what that word meant. Which she didn't.

"Yeah. Interest. Captivate."

"Well, I guess it's better than freak out."

Danny let out a laugh. "You're pretty cool, kid," he said, then took another bite of his sandwich.

"Thank. And the name's Gabriella."

"I thought you said Ella," he recalled from earlier in the day.

"You don't get to call me that yet," she said, standing up from the couch.

She disappeared into the kitchen again. "Yet?" Danny asked. "What do I gotta do, pass a test?"

She reappeared in the living room with another juice box in her hand. "Sort of." She walked down the hall, leaving Danny alone for the third time. "We're gonna play a game," she said walking out with four boxes of games in her tiny arms.

"Okay," Danny asked. He bit into his sandwich again and washed it down with his soda. "What game?"

Ella put all of the games out on the floor and picked one up. She moved her grilled cheese off to the side and placed it on the coffee table. "Operation."

Danny stared at the little girl opening the box and taking out the game pieces. "Operation?" he repeated incredulously. "And I'm supposed to beat you."

"Maybe," she replied as she grabbed her sandwich and took a bite out of it.

He smiled. "But just warning you, I'm a scientist. I have steady hands."

"You say that now, but when you're under pressure, you never know what can happen." Ella laughed when she saw the look of confusion on Danny's face. Ella put away all of the pieces to Operation and took out another board game. "We could always play Guess Who."

"I'm also a detective. I know how to ask the right questions."

"So does Mr. Flack. But I'm still undefeated at this game." She turned off the television and took out the boards.

LRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR

Ella flipped down the last few cards on her side leaving one standing. She turned her pieces toward Danny to reveal the card that Danny had chosen. Danny threw down the card in disbelief. This was the fourth game that he had lost in a row. "I still think you're cheating."

"You took off your glasses after the second game because you thought I was cheating. Bad idea because you're blind without them. Then you took out all of the cards and shuffled them on both of our sides. I'm not psychic."

"You're something."

"I know. Still undefeated." Ella looked at the clock above the television and quickly stood up. "Shower time." She put the game back into it's box and ran into Don's hallway. "Oh, wait," she said, running back.

"What's up?"

"I have to wash the dishes."

"I can do that."

"Okay," Ella replied.

"Just go do whatever you need to do before your mom gets here." Ella nodded and walked back toward the hallway. "Wait," Danny said, interrupting her walk. Ella spun to face him. "Did I pass the test?"

"Yeah," Ella laughed. "You can call me Ella now."

Ella disappeared into the bathroom. Danny walked over to the coffee table and picked up the plates and trash and cleaned it up. When he was done with that, he picked up the games that Ella took out and put them in the hallway closet. He made a mental note that one day he was going to beat Ella at Guess Who.

He walked back down the hall and realized that in all the time he knew Don, he'd never once checked into the guest room of his place. But he never had a reason to do so. He didn't know why Don needed it. He was a bachelor after all and he didn't look to be settling down any time soon. And he had an odd relationship with his family, so he rarely had visitors. It was usually people from work that came over. So, why the guest room?

He opened the door to it and peered in apprehensively. Something told him that he shouldn't have been looking through Don's place, but curiosity got the best of him. He stepped into the room and was surprised to find it looking ordinary. There was a made bed in the middle of the room, two sets of drawers, a desk, and anything else anyone could find in any normal room.

The only difference about this guest room was that the room looked not lived-in. It looked like something out of a catalogue for a department store. And most of all, it wasn't very Don Flack. But then again, Danny was getting surprises about his best friend left and right today.

As he scanned around the room, what caught his attention was a picture frame on the nightstand. He walked over to it and picked up the frame made of popsicle sticks and glue. But as creative as the frame was, Danny was consumed by the picture in it.

Don was in his leather jacket with his side burns and longer hair. He had a huge smile on his face. In his arms was a younger and smaller Ella with a smile identical to Don's. Don looked like a giant compared to the little girl.

Danny couldn't help but smile at the picture in his hand. He must have been staring at in intently for fifteen minutes. "Mr. Messer?" a soft voice whispered behind him.

Danny jumped and quickly spun around. "Ella. Quick shower?"

"Yeah," she whispered. She had her school uniform in her arms and walked over to the hamper in the corner to drop them in. "You know, for a police officer, you sure get surprised easily."

"I'm not a police officer," Danny corrected.

"Well, close to a police officer."

"And you snuck up on me."

"Well," Ella continued, "as an almost police officer, you shouldn't be getting snuck up on."

Danny thought about it. And he couldn't believe he was corrected by a little girl. "Touché."

"Sure?" Ella replied, not knowing the meaning of that word. "So, what are you looking at?"

"You, I think."

Ella pulled down Danny's arm and looked at what he was holding. "Oh, that's me," she said proudly. "I made the frame in preschool. And the picture was during out class picnic. Mom was busy working and couldn't come, so Mr. Flack did. We had so much fun. We won the basketball game together. So much fun."

"Sounds like it."

Danny put the frame back on the nightstand and walked out of the room. Ella followed him and walked back to the couch. Danny sat down next to her in silence. "You can ask me whatever you want to ask me," Ella said.

"How do you know that I want to ask you something?" Danny asked.

Ella turned to sit facing Danny and crossed her legs. She stared into Danny's eyes so deeply that it was unnerving to him. "You have the look in your eyes that Ms. Burn always had before she wanted to ask me something."

"I just wanted to say thank you for the sandwich."

"You're welcome. Thank you for washing the dishes. But you're still wanting to ask me something. I can handle it."

Danny sat in disbelief. Don must have instilled some form of intuition in the girl, because she was reading through the mask that he always had on. Or maybe it was because it was because she was a kid and saw passed all of the damage surrounding him. Either way, she was so much like Don that it flustered him. "Are you sure that Flack isn't your dad?"

"I'm sure," Ella laughed. "Mom says that I have my dad's nose. And his smile."

"So, you always come to Don's place after school?"

"Not always. Just on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I'm busy every other day."

"And you're just here by yourself until your mom comes and gets you."

"Yeah," Ella replied. "My mom gets off work at nine. She doesn't get here until like 9:15. But we don't get into our apartment until about ten."

"Why so late?" Danny asked.

"Mr. Flack and mom talk. He likes to know how she is doing. He's a nice person."

"Yeah."

"Always tells her how he doesn't like mom's boyfriend. I agree with him. Usually I'm asleep. But every time I hear them talk, it's always the same thing. And then he carries me up to your apartment, still talking to mom. She really likes him."

"I thought she has a boyfriend."

"Well, I guess he is an ex now. And it's not likes him likes him. But like, you know, to talk to."

"I see."

Ella grabbed the controller and turned on the television. She set the controller back down on the coffee table and watched what was on the screen. "Now, I have a question for you, Mr. Messer," Ella said.

"Danny."

"What?"

"Call me Danny. I told you that earlier."

"Okay," she replied. "Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. I just don't like sounding like I'm forty years old."

"Aren't you?" Ella replied. Danny sent a glare in her direction. Ella started laughing to break the tension. "I'm just kidding."

Danny smiled at the little girl. "Very funny, kid." Ella finally stopped laughing after a few minutes. "So, what did you want to ask me?"

"I actually have a lot of questions to ask you."

"Well, pick one."

Her shoulders slumped as she prepared to ask Danny the question. "Were you with Mr. Flack when the accident happened?"

Of all the questions that Danny thought she would be asking, that wasn't one of them. "No, I wasn't," he replied. "But I was a part of the group of people that find him."

"Oh," Ella said. "You must've been scared."

He was scared, but Danny wanted to know how Ella knew. "Why?"

"To see him like that. It would've scared me."

"I was," Danny admitted. "I was scared out of my mind," he said freely, wondering why he was so open with a child.

"He's not supposed to get hurt. He's Superman," she whispered the last few words.

"What?"

"Never mind," Ella said, trying to change the subject.

"What?" Danny pressed again.

"It's nothing," Ella groaned. She really did not want to talk about it.

"He is, isn't he?" Danny continued, completely ignoring the little girl next to him. "Superman, I mean."

"Yeah." Ella gave Danny a smile and turned her attention back to the television. She had a lot of time to ask him questions later. The two of them sat together waiting for Ella's mom to show up.

**Hey, everyone. Sorry it's taken me awhile to update this story, but I've been on a Supernatural fix lately, but I do have chapters lined up. And I have a question for you all, does four brothers for Flack seem a little much? I'd really appreciate the feedback. Thanks everyone for sticking with me. I hope that this chapter turned out all right. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I own all the characters that you haven't heard of before, which, in this chapter, is quite a few.**

Danny and Ella sat on Flack's couch watching the highlights on the sports channel waiting for Ella's mom to show up. It was a little passed nine, so it wasn't like she was late. Danny laughed as the time between Ella's yawns shortened as the night drew on. She let out a long yawn during a commercial and Danny turned to stare at her. "You can sleep, you know. I can answer the door when your mom gets here."

"My mom has a key," she said. She yawned again before she spoke. "And I'm not tired."

Danny laughed again. "You yawning every five seconds is telling me different. Just close your eyes. It's probably passed your bedtime."

"It is. But I just don't want to worry my mom," Ella replied.

"How would you worry your mom by sleeping?"

Ella was about to answer when she heard the sound of a key unlocking the front door. "Don?" a woman asked, slowly opening the door.

Danny and Ella both turned to the door and looked at Natalie standing there. Danny stood up while Ella stayed planted on the couch. "He's not here," Danny replied. He walked into the kitchen to greet her.

"Who the hell are you?" Natalie yelled.

"Mom," Ella said, standing on the couch. "This is Mr. Flack's friend, Mr. Danny."

"Where is Don?" she asked Danny, not letting him off the hook yet.

"Hospital," Ella answered.

Natalie walked toward her daughter and sat next to her. "How do you know this, sweetie?"

"Mr. Danny took me to see him."

Natalie turned and glared at the man standing in the kitchen. "You took my daughter to the hospital?"

Danny raised his hands defensively. He didn't know why he was getting a verbal lashing from a woman he had known for a whole three minutes. But he understood the suspiciousness. And taking her to a hospital wasn't exactly the smartest excursion to take with a six-year-old. "It didn't feel right leaving her here. And she wanted to see him."

"What? See who?"

"Don."

"What? Has he been working on a case at the hospital?"

"No."

With that one word, Natalie's mind immediately went to a worse case scenario. "What happened?" she asked, her voice shaking. There was only one reason Don usually went to the hospital, for questioning, and the man standing in front of Natalie already told her that wasn't the case. "Was he injured in the line of duty?"

Danny sighed, preparing himself to explain everything to Ella's mom. He really didn't want to think about, let alone explain this case to her. Especially with Ella sitting right there. But Natalie didn't look like she was giving him much choice in the matter. "You heard about the bombing?"

"Yes," she replied apprehensively. "Was Don caught in it? Is he dying?"

"No, he's not dying," Danny replied, trying to calm her anxiousness.

"He'll live though," Natalie stated with much hope.

"Yeah. He was pretty bad. Still is, but he's a little better than before. He's awake now."

"Um… shouldn't you be working though? Or getting home? Just not here," Natalie said, feeling a little foolish for not being specific on what she wanted.

But Danny knew what she wanted. "Like I said, it didn't feel right leaving your daughter here alone. Plus, she has great taste in TV," he said pointing to the television set.

"You let her watch TV all night?" Natalie said in disbelief.

"No," Danny replied, running his hand down his face. He was going to have to choose his words wisely.

"Ella," Natalie started. "did you finish your homework?"

"Yes, mom. Mr. Danny helped me."

"Danny?" her mother asked. "Why does that name sound familiar?" She fell silent trying to figure out where she had heard that name before. "Danny Messer?"

"Yeah. But Danny is just fine."

"I'm Natalie. Natalie Corson," she introduced, holding her hand out to him.

Danny took it in his and shook. "Nice to meet you."

"You're a good friend of Don's. Sorry for the accusations, I just…" she apologized.

"I understand. I'm mean, finding a stranger in the same room as your daughter."

Natalie visibly tensed at those words. Danny would have pressed for a reason for her actions, but he didn't have the right. "Well, I have to get back up to my apartment. Come on, Ella," Natalie beckoned. "Let's go."

"I have to get something in Mr. Flack's bathroom," Ella said. She stood up from the couch and walked down the hall.

Danny waited until Ella was out of sight before he turned back to her mother. "How often does she stay here?" Danny asked.

"Every Tuesday and Thursday. Why?"

"I don't think Flack would like the idea of her staying by herself. He's not going to be able to come home for awhile."

"I'll sign her up for an after school program for a few weeks or months. However long it takes for Don to heal," she answered.

"You don't need to do that."

"Why not?"

"I'll come over and watch TV with her," Danny suggested.

"What about your job?"

"We're all on break now because of that last case. Really took a lot out of us. And I could request off Tuesdays and Thursdays, was it?" Natalie nodded cautiously. "I mean, you can say no. I'm giving you no reason to trust me right now."

"You're right," Natalie started, "I can't trust you yet."

"Okay," Danny said, resigned.

"But Don does," Natalie added. "And I trust Don with my daughter's and my life. So, by default, I guess that I trust you."

"I'll take that."

"But my daughter doesn't need a baby sitter. If you want to watch her, you need to get her permission, not mine." Natalie looked down the hallway and didn't see her daughter. "Gabriella, sweetie. It's time to go."

"Okay, mom," she said, running down the hall. "It was nice to meet you, Danny."

"You too, Ella," Danny replied.

"Will I see you again?"

"If you want me to stay with you while your mom's at work."

"It'd be nice, since Mr. Flack is in the hospital. If you're not busy, I mean."

"I'll request for days off on those days. And besides, you owe me a rematch of Guess Who."

"I guess if you want to lose again," Ella retorted.

"Come on. Let's go." Ella ran over to Danny and hugged around his legs. She picked up her bag and walked out of the apartment. "And by the way, Danny, there is a reason my daughter is undefeated at Guess Who."

Danny laughed as Natalie followed her daughter out the door. He tidied up Don's apartment after the door closed. "One piece of the puzzle of the man that is Don Flack." He finished cleaning then left the apartment.

LRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR

He reached for his cell phone on his nightstand that had been ringing incessantly for the passed ten minutes. He groaned as he put the cell phone to his ear. "Hello," he answered unenthusiastically.

"Richard?"

"Kevin?" he looked at the clock on his phone. "Do you know what time it is?"

"Dad just called."

"What do you mean 'dad just called'?" Richard asked his brother. That statement broke him out of his sleep haze.

"What else could it mean? What is this about Don being in an accident?" Kevin asked. "Like a car accident?"

"It was more of a building explosion."

"You're not helping, Rich. You sound like you've known for some time. Why didn't I get a call from you as soon as you found out?" he scolded.

Richard sat up on his bed. He wasn't going to get to sleep any time soon. He knew that he was going to get an earful from the eldest Flack brother. "Well, what would you have done? Just fly out here?" Richard challenged.

"Yes," Kevin replied as if the answer were simple.

"I can handle everything up here. Don't worry about it."

"Rich, you don't have to take care of our entire family. That isn't your job. I told Maureen and the kids about what happened. We're coming up."

"You don't think I can handle dad," Richard said, he got out of bed and walked toward the kitchen.

"I know you can handle dad. I just don't think dad can handle you. Have you called Jason?"

"He called me. He was saying that he was going to see Don when he wasn't busy."

"You mean when he isn't scared," Kevin said talking about their other brother that fell between them.

"Yeah. But can you blame him? Even I was thinking about waiting until he healed up before I go see him. But dad wants to stop by in a few days."

"Are you going with him?"

Richard sat down at his kitchen table. "Of course, I am."

"Have you gotten a hold of Van?"

"No," Richard said, running his hand through his hair in irritation of their eccentric brother. "He might as well be road tripping across the country again. Dad tried to call him a couple of times, but apparently he keeps getting the voicemail. Dad resorted to just ordering him to call back as soon as possible. I don't think it will hold much validity for baby brother."

"When has it ever?" Kevin laughed. "He never listened to any of us, except…"

"Don," they said simultaneously.

"Do you think that he even knows about the explosion? I mean, aside from dad's message on the phone?"

"He knows. I'm pretty sure he knows. I don't know how, but he does. Van's pretty connected," Richard said.

"I don't know if I should be scared or proud of that fact."

"Both is the safest bet."

"Yeah."

"So, when are you guys flying in?" Richard said, needing to change the subject.

"In four days."

"Do you want me and dad to wait for you before we visit Don?"

"No, if sir wants to see Don, just go with him. We can all go see little brother later." Kevin sighed. "I think that I've kept you awake long enough. I'll call you later. And try and get a hold of Van?"

"I'll try."

"Call me if you do," Kevin said.

"I'll tell the baby of the family to call you," Richard said. "Good night." And he hung up. "Perfect time for a Flack family reunion." He sighed before he dialed a number on his phone. A few minutes later, not surprisingly, he got an answering machine. "Hey, Van," Richard started after the beep. "It's Rich…" and he began filling in his little brother on the details of what he had missed.

**Here is the next chapter. So, I've given Don a family. Five Flack siblings. All boys. What was I thinking? I guess I just love the brotherly family dynamic. I have people that I imagined playing these characters and the parents, so if you guys want to know who I have in my head, just ask and I'll post it in the next chapter or something. Oh, and realized that two chapters ago I said that Natalie was supposed to show up in the previous chapter. My bad. I really hope that this chapter turned out all right. Thanks for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I just own the story and the characters that you've never heard of before.**

Danny ran out of his apartment and toward his car at breakneck speed. Since he still hadn't been able to go back to work, he spent his days cleaning and stocking his empty cupboards and fridge. When he was done putting everything where it needed to be, he plopped himself on his couch. By that time, it was three o'clock.

And he remembered that he had to be somewhere.

So, he grabbed his cell phone, keys, and anything else he thought he'd need and ran out of his place. As soon as he was on the road, he pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Ella?" he asked when someone answered.

"Hello," she replied. "Who's this?"

"Mr. Messer. It's Danny."

"Oh," she replied. "Hi. What's up?" She sounded like she was out of breath.

"I just wanted to make sure you were at Don's place. I'm running a bit late," Danny replied. He didn't want to come right out and say that he almost forgot about her.

"Oh, okay," she said really quickly.

"Are you all right?" Danny asked.

"I'm fine," she replied. "Are you hungry?"

"Why?"

"I made an extra sandwich."

"Thanks. I'll be there in a few minutes."

"Okay," she said. "No, you can't touch that!" she yelled into the phone so loudly that Danny had to pull it away from his ear. "Bye, Danny," she said and hung up the phone.

"Ella, wait!" he yelled, but he was too late.

He drove down the road as fast as he could without getting himself pulled over. It took him a few minutes to find a parking space, but when he did, he jumped out of the car and ran to the apartment. He didn't like that Ella sounded so frantic over the phone.

He jumped out of his car and ran into the apartment. He flew passed the elevator and decided to use the stairs instead. He used his key and opened Don's door.

When he walked in, he saw a teenage boy sitting on Don's couch watching TV. But Ella was nowhere in sight. "Ella!" Danny yelled.

The boy turned to Danny and looked at him with his dark brown eyes. Ella ran out from the hallway and stood in front of him. "Hi, Danny," she replied. Danny dropped to one knee and started to check over the little girl. "What are you doing?" she asked when he spun her around.

"Are you all right?"

"Yes. Why wouldn't I be?"

"Ella, who is that?" he asked, pointing to the boy sitting on the couch.

The teenager stood up from his seat on the couch and made his way to Ella and Danny. "This is Carver," she said. "Carver Heyd, this is Danny Messer. Danny Messer, this is Carver Heyd."

Carver held his hand out to Danny and he took it and shook it firmly. Danny wanted Carver to know that he was the one in charge in this house. Carver looked like he could have been Ella's older brother, but Natalie would have had to be younger than fifteen to have him, so that was impractical. "Okay. So what are you doing in this apartment?"

"I was watching television with Ella," he replied, pointing back to the screen.

"What the heck are you doing watching TV with a six-year-old girl?" Danny asked. He was suspicious, but he had to be. He knew that Don wouldn't ever forgive him if something were to happen to Ella.

Ella walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch. "Well, she finished her homework already, so she said she usually watches TV. And she said that Mr. Flack is in the hospital or something like that. So, I didn't feel right leaving her alone by herself."

"How do you know her? Are you like a neighbor or something?"

"I know her from school," Carver said, running his fingers through his long brown locks.

"She's six-years-old," Danny pointed out.

"I'm her student helper and tutor."

"Let me see your ID." Carver reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He took out his school ID and showed it to the older man. "Carver Heyd. You're a Senior."

"Yeah."

"What is a student helper doing at the apartment of one of his students?"

"I've been here before," Carver replied.

"That doesn't answer the question that I'm asking."

"When our math lessons take longer than usual, she has to miss the bus and I give her a ride home. I've gotten permission from her mother. We could call her if you like."

"You the one teaching her long division," Danny stated instead of asked.

"Yeah, that's me. I'm sorry if me being here isn't okay by you. I can leave. The last thing that I'd want is for you to think I'm some sort of creeper," Carver said, moving toward the door.

"No," Danny replied. He raised his hand to stop Carver from taking another step toward the door. "She knows you. You've obviously known her longer than I have. You have more of a right to be here than I do."

"She's a cool kid," Carver said, pointing to her sitting on the couch. "Like seriously, if I had a younger sister, I'd want her to be just like her."

"So, you got any siblings?" Danny said, continuing his partial interrogation.

"None. Just Ella."

"Danny, leave him alone," Ella yelled from the couch.

"I don't know anything about this guy."

"He doesn't know anything about you either."

Danny rolled his eyes while Carver let out a laugh. "She sounds so much like Flack it isn't funny," Danny said.

"See, I was trying to place her tone, but I just couldn't. Now I can," Carver said with a smile.

"So, you know Don?" Danny asked.

"We won't be going out for rounds of golf any time soon. I see him down at the Y once in awhile. But I know mostly from what Ella tells me. I talked to him once or twice. He's a nice guy. Was seriously surprised when I found out that he wasn't her father."

Carver took a seat at Don's dinner table and Danny also pulled up a seat. "You are not alone. So, how long have you actually known this one?"

"Danny," Ella scolded.

"I'm not interrogating, Ella. Just asking."

"Since she started at the school. So, about a year. Probably longer. Can't tell you specifics because time just flies and I can't really remember."

The conversation was halted when they heard Ella let out a laugh. "So, you're one of them. Gifted. Since you go to that school too."

"Hardly. I'm gifted, as you say, but I go to regular school. I'm gifted, but my best friends aren't. And see, my mom is the headmistress and my dad is a teacher. So I'm there everyday.

"I saw Ella in the hallways one day. She said that she didn't like her tutor so she was taking a break. I think it was her first week there. She was talking about how boring her teacher was and she need to get out of there before she started crying. So I told her to grab her books and we could talk outside. We ended up looking at her books and I started to teach her.

"Then her tutor came out and started yelling at me. Then Ella stood up to the tutor and said that she liked me better. The look on her teacher's face was priceless. The little one dragged me to my mother's office and asked if I could be her tutor instead. My mother asked if it was all right with me."

"And you agreed."

"I don't know if you've realized this, Mr. Messer—"

"Danny," he interrupted. "Even Ella isn't allowed to call me Mr. Messer."

"Danny. It's hard to say no to this girl. And you don't know it by now, you'll figure it out soon."

"I'm here, aren't I?" Danny knew.

"You got beat at Guess Who didn't you?"

"Four times in a row," Danny replied, embarrassed, but with a smile.

"Ouch. You're a lot braver than I am," Carver replied. "See, I stopped after two. My pride couldn't take it."

"I see." Danny looked at the little girl lying on the couch. "Ella, you done with all your homework?"

"Yeah," Ella said. Danny stared at Ella in disbelief. "Carver, tell him."

"Yeah, she finished," Carver said, vouching for the little girl.

"You want to go visit Don?"

"Yes."

"Okay, grab what you need to grab and we'll leave."

Ella turned off the TV, jumped off the couch and ran down the hall. The sound of a door hitting a wall echoed through the house. "I'll take that as my cue to leave," Carver replied.

"You're more than welcome to join us," Danny invited.

"Nah," Carver declined, "Ella told me that Mr. Flack was in the hospital because of an accident. She mentioned the explosion. I put two and two together from there. But anyways, I'll let the young one spend some time with him." He stood up from his seat and went into the living room to grab his things. "Ella!" he shouted. Ella ran out of her room. "I'm going to head out," he said.

Carver fell to his knee and Ella threw her arms around him. "Drive safe."

"I always drive safe," Carver replied in a British accent.

"Right," Ella said, rolling her eyes. A smile crept upon Ella's face.

"What?" Carver said.

"You slipped again. That's twice today."

"I did, didn't I?" Carver said slowly. "Well, anyway, if you need any help with your homework—"

"I'll call you." Ella kissed Carver on the cheek. "Bye."

"Bye."

Carver left the apartment and Danny looked to the little girl. "You ready?" he asked her.

"Born that way," she replied with a smile.

Danny opened the door and waited for Ella to walk through. She walked through and waited outside for Danny to follow her. He walked out of the apartment, locked Don's door and stood next Ella. "Let's go."

Together they walked to Danny's car.

LRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR

Mac and Stella sat in the waiting room on Don's floor. They had just finished talking to the doctors and found out that what Danny had said was true. Don was already awake. Then again, that didn't really surprise them. Don was a fighter.

The two of them sat and talked about Don's condition. They were in no rush to get anywhere. They weren't allowed to go back to work either, so they took the time to relax. A job that was a became a lot easier when they found out that Don was awake.

"So, he's sleeping right now," Stella said.

"Yeah, he'll just be lying in that bed for a few weeks," Mac replied.

"Sounds like fun," Stella laughed. They both knew that Don would be trying to get out of this place as soon as possible. "I want to see and hear Don try to argue his way out of that."

"So do I."

The two of them turned their attention to two men speed walking down the hall. "Dad, slow down," they heard the much younger of the two say. "Dad, I know you're worried… Dad!" he said loudly when his father sped up his pace.

"Mac, is that?" Stella asked, not wanting to assume anything.

"Yes," Mac replied. "I think it is."

"This can't be good."

"I'll try to handle it," Mac said. He stood up from his seat and walked to Don Sr. to try and block his path. "Donald, it's been awhile."

"We'll catch up later, Taylor," the gray-haired man replied. "I want to go and talk to Don."

His son had finally caught up. "He's asleep. I think we should just wait outside," Mac suggested. "You could talk to his doctors."

"Let me see my son!" Donald yelled.

"No, Donald," Mac said, sternly. "I won't let you go in there and upset him."

"Don't tell me what to do with my son."

"You're only going to do him harm if you go in there and upset him."

"I know what's best for my son," Donald roared. "And it would be best for him to see his father."

"Maybe later."

His son took that as the opportunity to step between his father and this other man. "Dad, come on," he said putting his arm on his father's arm. "We'll see him eventually. Just listen to the man. Sit down before you collapse." Donald yanked his arm out of his son's grasp and walked away from the two men leaving them standing in the middle of the waiting room. He turned to Mac. "I'm sorry, my father's just been upset since he got the call from a Miss Stella Bonasera," his son apologized.

"I'm Stella Bonasera," Stella introduced. She stood up from her seat and made her way to the men standing in the hallway.

"So, you must be Mac Taylor," he said, looking to the man who was brave enough to stand up to his father.

"Yeah," Mac replied.

"Richard. Richard Flack," he introduced. He held out his hand to Stella and she shook it. Richard then turned to Mac. He held his hand out and Mac shook it. "Thank you for saving my brother's life," he whispered.

"You're welcome."

"So, how is Don doing?" Richard asked, concerned about his brother.

"You can go inside and ask him," Stella said.

"I'd rather not. Not right now," Richard replied. "I'll do some damage control after my father goes in." He looked at his watch on his wrist. "I should go and find him. Thank you."

Richard headed the hall that he saw his father walked down to search for him. "So, that's Don's brother," Stella said when Richard was out of earshot.

"One of the many," Mac replied.

"Many?" Stella asked. "And they're all that handsome?" Stella smiled. "Good genes."

The two of them sat back down in the empty chairs. They looked up when a shadow blocked their light. They saw Richard standing in front of them. "Mind if I sit with you?" Richard asked. "My father just walked into Don's room. I don't want to be there if Don wakes up. I guess you can see where we get our stubbornness from."

"A little," Stella replied.

Richard let out a short laugh. "So, tell me about my brother. How's he been?" he asked.

Mac and Stella looked at each other. "Well…" Stella started. And she began to fill Richard in about the trouble Flack has gotten into.

**Here is the next chapter. Sorry it took me so long to update everything. I was a little stressed with school. But I'm free now! Woohoo. For those of you guys who wanted to know who I had in my head for the Flack family and the order of them, here you go:**

**Donald Flack Sr. (father) – Mark Harmon**

**Farrah Flack (mother) – Annette O'Toole**

**Kevin Flack – Michael Vartan (During the Alias days)**

**Jason Flack – Michael Weatherly (How he looked during Dark Angel except without the wheelchair. And I chose him before I realized he was on NCIS with Mark Harmon.)**

**Richard Flack – James Marsden (The eyes)**

**Donald Flack Jr. – Eddie Cahill**

**Donovan "Van" Flack – Jensen Ackles (Not because I wanted to throw him in to this story, but because Annette O'Toole was going to play his mother on Smallville. But it's still up for discussion.) Or Chris Pine.**

**I hope that this chapter turned out all right. Thanks for reading. Lil-Rock**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I own Ella and all the other characters that you've never heard of before.**

Ella and Danny stepped into the hospital and were glad to see it not too busy. Danny looked at the little girl walking next to him trying to process everything that she just told him. "So, you're telling me that Carver's British accent is real," Danny said.

"Almost real," Ella said with a smile. "He's at least half British. His dad is from there and his mom lived there. That's where they met. And Carver goes there every summer to visit his grandparents so he slips often. I guess it's like second nature. It's cute," Ella laughed.

"Cute?"

"Yes. Cute."

The two of them stepped into the elevator and Ella pushed the button to Don's floor. "So, do you see Carver as your older brother?"

"Sometimes. He's great. And he's such a better tutor than the boring man."

The elevator doors opened to Don's floor and the first thing that Danny saw was Mac and a familiar man arguing. He recognized the man and his breath caught in his throat. Ella stepped out, but Danny gently grabbed her arm and pulled her back in, pushing the button to close the door and the button to a random floor. "Sorry," Danny apologized when the elevator traveled up.

"Did I press the wrong button?" Ella asked.

"No, I just saw my boss," Danny replied.

"Are you in trouble?"

"No. Not today. But you saw the man that he was talking to?"

"Really quickly," Ella said. "He looked really mad."

"Mac doesn't look too happy to be talking to him either."

"Do you know who he is?" Ella asked.

The elevator doors opened and they stepped out. Lucky for the two of them, they were on the floor with the food, so they walked in and took a seat. "Yeah," Danny replied.

"Who is he?"

"That's Flack's dad," Danny said softly.

Ella jumped out of her seat and tugged on Danny's arm. "Let's go say hi."

"I'd rather not."

Ella stopped tugging and sat back in her seat. "How come?"

Danny thought about what to say to the little girl. He didn't think that he should've been telling her about his family history. "He doesn't like my family and me very much," is what he settled for.

"What did you do?"

"I didn't do anything," Danny replied. "But my family's done some pretty shady things. And Flack's dad was a cop. He doesn't like what my family's done."

"I don't understand," Ella said.

"What?" Danny rubbed his face. If a little girl who was gifted couldn't understand what he was saying he knew he was doing a horrible job explaining.

"Why doesn't he like you? You're a nice person. And you said that you didn't do anything."

"Guilty by association," Danny said. And it pisses…"

Ella made a sound of distaste in his choice of words. Danny paused for a second and stared at the little girl. She took a napkin, crumpled it, and threw it at Danny's face. "Language."

"Sorry. It _makes him mad_ that me and Flack are buds."

"That's lame," Ella said. "Grown ups make no sense."

"Yeah. You're telling me. Being an adult is overrated. Don't ever grow up."

"I wasn't planning on it," Ella laughed. A few more minutes of sitting ticked on before Ella stood up from her chair again. "Do you think it's safe to go see, Mr. Flack?"

"Not sure," Danny replied. "If Flack Sr. is the most stubborn Flack, then it might take even Mac a few minutes to talk him down."

"We can take the stairs," Ella suggested.

Danny sat for a few seconds to contemplate his options. He knew how much Ella wanted to see Don, but he didn't really want to come across the Flack patriarch. "Stairs sound good," Danny replied and stood up.

LRLRLRLRLRLRLRLR

Donald Flack Sr. walked out of his son's room glad that his son was alive, but frustrated that he wasn't awake. He had a lot to talk to his son about. As soon as he stepped out of Don's room, he saw his other son walk in.

Richard waited for the door to close, then moved to step in the way of it. It was surreal to him that his brother was lying in the bed in front of him. He took a tentative step forward, not wanting to be the one to wake his brother up. He stood halfway between the door and the bed. "I told you, Donnie," he sighed. "Worrying all of us like that. If Ma weren't recovering, she'd have my ass for letting you get hurt. But thank God you're alive," he whispered.

"Rich?" a soft voice said from the bed.

Richard's eyes widened. "Don. You're awake," he said stepping closer to the bed. "Can I get you anything? Water?"

Don shook his head. "I'm good," he said in a raspy voice. He swallowed, then let out a few coughs to clear his throat.

Then Richard had to smile. "So, what? Were you really sleeping when dad came in or just closing your eyes so you didn't have to deal with him?" Don used to do the same thing when they were kids sleeping in the same room.

"I was sleeping," Don said, offended. "But dad's voice isn't the most soothing thing in the world. And I just didn't have enough energy to wake myself up completely."

"Well, I feel special," Richard said.

"Nah," Don said. "And I didn't want to have to deal with him, yet."

"Honestly, little brother, how are you feeling?" Richard asked, pulling up a seat.

"Better," the younger Flack brother replied. "I know that it doesn't say much. It hurts, yeah, but I'll get through it. I'm a Flack, remember?"

"How could I forget? You have the obvious stubborn streak. Haven't gotten a phone call from you in how many years?"

"Name one of us that doesn't have that streak?" Don said, ignoring the jab his brother took at him. "By the way, how's everyone? Jason? Van?" Don asked, moving the subject as far away from him as he could.

Richard realized what his brother was trying to do and decided to go along with it. "Jason is trying to build up the courage to see you. I guess even if you're a doctor, seeing a family member in a bed like this is unnerving. And Van. Well, we haven't heard from him in weeks."

"I call him as soon as I'm out of here. Talk some sense into our baby brother." He knew that he was the only one who could. "How is Kevin?"

"Pissed off at you." Don rolled his eyes. "Not as mad as me, but still angry."

"You called him?"

"Dad did. He's with his wife in California. They'll be by in a few days. So, he says."

"Tell him to not worry," Don said. "He shouldn't be flying across the country and worrying about me."

"Don, you're our brother," Richard stated. "Why would we not care about you?"

"Because the last time we had a real conversation, you were yelling at me about becoming a cop."

"Because of this exact moment."

Don sighed. "How mad is dad?"

"Surprisingly, not very," Richard said. "At least, not at you. He's scared, Donnie. He just doesn't know how to show it. He wants to blame someone for putting you in the hospital. And not just the person who built the bomb."

"Keep him away from Danny," Don said. He knew the history behind his father and his best friend's family.

"Don, you know that I won't be able to do that. He already came across Detective Taylor," Richard whispered the last part of his statement.

"Oh no." Don could only imagine how loud it got between the two of them.

"And with Danny, it's bad enough that he's a scientist, but a Messer?"

"Not you too," Don groaned.

"No, I'm not—"

Richard was interrupted by the opening of the door. Don craned his neck to see who was standing outside. Richard raised his eyebrow at the little girl who peeked into the room. "Hey, you," Don said.

"Hi, Mr. Flack," she shyly replied. Don signaled for her to enter and she did. "Can I use the bathroom? The other bathrooms are too big and mom said I can't go into those alone unless I have no other option."

"Go ahead, Ella," Don said.

"Thank you," she replied. She slowly walked around, the other man in the room toward the bathroom.

As soon as Richard heard the click of the door closing, he turned to his young brother. "Who is that?" he asked, pointing to the bathroom door.

"That's Gabriella," Don said.

"You talk about her like I'm supposed to know who she is."

"She's my neighbor's daughter."

"So, what is she doing here?"

"Same thing you're doing here. Visiting."

"Is that all she is to you?" Richard asked. It had been more than half a decade since he'd had a meaningful conversation with his brother. The little girl looked like she could've happened within those years and meant a lot more to Don.

Don was going to say something to disprove what she knew was going on in his brother's head, but the bathroom door opened again. "Hi, Mr. Flack. Sorry for interrupting, I just really had to go."

"It's okay, Ella," Don said with a smile. Richard cleared his throat and Don looked at him. "Oh, this is my brother, Richard," Don introduced. "Richard, Gabriella."

Richard walked around the bed to where Ella was standing. He knelt down in front of her and held out his hand. She put her small hand in his and shook it. "Hi, Mr. Flack," she said, smiling. "You guys have the same eyes," she said. "Really pretty."

"Hi, Gabriella," he said, letting go of her hand. "And thank you."

"Ella. You can call me Ella. Mr. Flack already does."

"What?" Don said. "No Guess Who?"

"Maybe later, Mr. Flack. Oh wait. You're…" she pointed to Don then to Richard. "This is confusing. What do I call you?" she asked Richard.

"Well, I already told you not to call me Mr. Flack," Don said.

"Too bad," she glared at Don. "It's respectful."

"It makes me feel old."

"But you—"

"Ella," Don warned. "Don't make me come over there."

"See, I would be worried if you weren't in a hospital bed," Ella challenged. Richard let out a short laugh at their exchange.

"I'm not going to be in this bed forever," Don retorted.

"Um… should I go?" Richard interrupted the two's back and forth. "You two seem like you're having some fa… fun bonding time."

"No, I'll go," Ella said quickly. "You need to talk to your brother. I think me and Danny should leave before your dad or his boss sees him. I get the feeling that Danny gets into a lot of trouble." Don laughed, telling Ella that it was true. "Bye, Mr. Flack. It was good to meet you… other Mr. Flack."

"You too, Ella," Richard laughed.

Ella nodded and struggled to open the door. "Oh," Don said, before Ella walked out. She turned around and let the door close. "Thanks for the keychain, shorty." He pointed to it hanging from the side of his bed.

"You needed it more than I did," Ella replied. "Bye." And she walked out the room.

Richard waited for the door to close completely before he spoke. "Sweet girl," he said with a smile. "She seems really fond of you."

"The feeling's mutual," Don said.

Don craned his neck once more as he saw the door slowly open. He waved the person in and was glad to see who it was. "Hey, Don," the person at the door said. "Nice to see you awake."

"Hey, Messer," Don replied.

"You guys look busy," Danny said looking back and forth between the two brothers. "I'll drop by tomorrow and we can talk."

"Sounds good." Danny nodded and turned to walk out. "And, Danny," Don said before his friend was out of earshot.

"What's up?" he asked, pushing the door open once more.

"Take the stairs." Danny laughed, nodded, and left the two Flack brothers alone.

"So, is Ella Messer's daughter?" Richard asked.

"No," Don exasperated. "I already told you that she's my neighbor's daughter. I guess that he found out about her," Don whispered.

"Found out about her?" Richard asked. "Do not many people know about her?"

"No one at my job does."

"Is that wise, little brother?" Don rolled his eyes. "I mean, people think the worst, and then you have to spend all of that time explaining."

"I don't have to explain myself to anyone," Don replied.

"Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"Get defensive. I just don't think that you should be keeping secrets."

"That's funny coming from you, Richie," Don scoffed. "I mean, does dad know that you're—"

This time, Don was interrupted by his room door swinging open. "Richard, I think we should…" the Flack patriarch's voice trailed off. "Donnie," he whispered when he saw Don awake.

"Sir," Don answered softly, wishing that he could sink and disappear into the uncomfortable hospital mattress.

**Here's the next chapter. I am so sorry that it's taken me so long to update this story. I was going to post this yesterday, but what a better day to come back from my hiatus than on my birthday? This chapter was supposed to be a lot longer, but I decided to move the Don and Don confrontation to the next chapter. Thanks to everyone who has been waiting for this. I hope this chapter turned out all right. And thanks for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I own the idea behind this tore any everyone who hasn't actually been a part of an episode.**

_Flashback_

_Donald Flack Jr. walked into the kitchen of his house and his three older brothers sitting at the dining table. They were sitting with their backs toward the doorway, so they didn't see him enter. But they were waiting for him. Don cleared his throat to get their attention. They turned around and Don almost bolted back out the door with the looks they were giving him. "Donnie, why the hell would you do that to mom?" Kevin said, standing up from his seat._

"_Do what, Richard?" he asked, not knowing what he did to receive a scolding from his brother._

"_Signing up for the force," Richard said, holding up his application to the Police Academy. "Why, Donnie?"_

"_Mom found it?"_

"_Of course, she did, Donnie," Jason answered. "So, tell us why? You're breaking mom's heart."_

"_How is that?"_

"_Because now she has to worry about her son every night." Kevin grabbed the application out of Richard's hand and tossed the sheets onto the kitchen table. "Don, don't you remember how much Ma worried about dad every night? I can't believe you would put her through that again."_

"_You almost did," Don said, turning the tables on his oldest brother._

"_But I didn't."_

_Don turned to the youngest of the older brothers, hoping that he wouldn't get much of a fight out of him. They had a better relationship and Richard was the most reasonable. "What if I'm meant for this, Rich? What if I'm supposed to be just like dad? I mean, I am named after him." _

"_No, because you're better than that," Richard said._

"_What if I'm not?"_

"_Donnie, stop being so damn selfish," Kevin said._

"_Shut up, Kevin," Don yelled._

"_No," the oldest Flack brother answered. "Because you're killing mom with this decision. Just finish college."_

"_Why?" Don asked. He turned back to Richard. "So, I can be just like my big brothers? I don't have the brains like you or Kev or Jason."_

"_That's not what we mean," Richard said, keeping a cool head amongst the four of them. "If you're doing this just to get dad's attention—"_

"_Wrong, Rich, I'm doing this for me."_

"_Really, Don?" Jason asked, after staying quiet for most of the conversation._

"_Yeah," he said, but it didn't sound convincing to anyone, even himself. "Does dad know?"_

"_I thought you didn't care," _

_The four of them fell silent as they tried to figure out what they were going to do. They looked to the entranceway of the kitchen when they heard the sound of footsteps. They saw their youngest brother walking into the kitchen. "Did I miss the memo for this meeting?" Van asked._

"_No meeting," Richard said._

"_You can go do whatever you were doing, Van," Kevin said. "This doesn't concern you."_

"_Like hell it doesn't concern me," he replied. "You're all here. Why shouldn't I be too?"_

"_Van," Don said, trying to calm his younger brother. He quickly changed from the angry brother to the level-headed one._

"_Don. Do you need someone to even the odds out?" he said, seeing the three of the older brothers gang up on the second youngest. _

"_You don't even know what you're agreeing with him about," Jason said._

"_Then tell me."_

"_I'm thinking about joining the force," Don replied. _

"_Good for you," Van said._

"_No, not good for him," Kevin yelled._

"_Don't yell at him!" Don yelled back._

"_Well, who is yelling now?" Jason challenged._

"_See, I knew you guys wouldn't understand," Don said._

"_Because you aren't giving us good enough reasons as to why you are doing this," Kevin said._

"_Because you guys don't listen to us," Van replied. With that, the fight turned from Don and everyone to Van and Kevin, like most arguments in the Flack household._

"_Van," Don said._

"_Guys, stop," Richard said, louder than all the other brothers. "We aren't even talking about the same thing we started off with."_

"_No, Rich, let them keep arguing," Don said. _

"_Well, mom is home."_

_All of the boys fell into a sudden silence. Their mother walked into the kitchen carrying two bags. "Oh," she said surprised to see all of her sons in the kitchen. "All my boys are here. You here to help me with dinner?"_

_Van walked to their mother and took the two bags out of her arms. "Of course, ma," he said._

"_Thank you, Van," she said. "How does my special meatloaf sound?"_

"_Sounds great," Don said as he helped Van unload the groceries. The five brothers could stop the arguing for the sake of their mom._

_End Flashback_

Donald Flack Sr. stared at his second youngest son lying in a hospital bed, unsure what to feel. "You're awake," he said.

Richard and Don looked at each other, trying to read their father. As usual, all they got were at least four different emotions radiating off of him. Don looked away from his brother, but keeping his view away from his father. "Yeah," he replied.

"Maybe I should—"

"Don't move," Donald said to his middle child, interrupting him and stopping him from moving toward the door. "You should've came and got me," he said.

"Do not yell at him," Don retorted.

"I wasn't yelling at him."

"No, just ordering him around."

Richard sighed and threw his hands up in frustration. "They hadn't even been talking for a minute and they're already arguing."

"What?" the Don's asked simultaneously.

"Dad," I think we should head out," Richard said, changing the subject as quickly as he could. He knew that his little brother could argue with he best of them, but he probably wasn't up for it in the current state he was in.

"I need to talk to your brother," Donald said.

"You can talk to him when Kevin gets here. We'll bring everyone by for a visit."

"Except Van," the Flack father said. "Haven't seen him in months."

Don tried to stay quiet as his Richard tried to save him from their father, but he felt that the jab toward the baby of their family was uncalled for. "Because you chased him off with your orders," Don said.

Donald Sr. looked back to his son lying on the bed. It was the first time that they had made eye contact in the entire conversation. "I just wanted him to find some stability in his life. Not just keep traveling with no sense of direction in his life."

"If he's happy doing what he's doing, just let him. Don't bark at him like you do to everyone you talk to."

"I do not," Donald said, offended.

"And what the hell were you doing yelling at Mac?" Don asked.

"Don't get me started on those damn CSIs." Don's profession was always a touchy subject in the Flack household.

"Those damn CSIs are my friends."

"They're the reason you were caught in the blast," his father yelled.

"It could've been anyone. And Mac saved my life. I'd be dead right now if it weren't for him," Don yelled back.

Richard could see where this conversation was heading. He knew that if he didn't stop it soon, there was going to be a high probability of bloodshed and words that could've been left unsaid. "Dad, we're leaving," he said, taking a hold of his father's arm.

He yanked his arm out of his son's grasp, ignoring what had been said to him. "Only because Mac was a Marine. And I respect him for that."

"But because he's a CSI, all respect just goes out the window."

"Do not try to understand what I'm feeling," Donald said in his commanding voice. It was an order and not just any other statement. It was the first time he had used it on Don in years. "I almost lost my son!"

And the hospital room fell silent. Without another word, Donald turned and left the room. Richard would've followed suit, but he needed to say something to his brother. "Why?" he asked his little brother.

"Sorry to put you in the middle of that, Rich," he said, avoiding the subject. That was his way of telling his brother that this specific conversation needed to take place another day.

"For me to be in the middle of it, I would've actually had to be included."

"Sorry."

"No, don't be," Richard replied. "That's years of frustration building up. From both ends. I really can't blame you guys. You were throwing all the cards on the table."

"It's like arguing with myself."

"It's your curse of sharing a name with the man," Richard joked. "You can blame grandma and Aunt Shannon for that. 'Oh, he looks just like Donald' and whatever else they said while you were still unnamed."

"They must've known what they were setting me up for."

"She's grandma, of course she did." Richard stopped and took one last glance at his brother. "It's good to see you awake," he said. "I should go after dad before he drives off without me. I guess we'll be by whenever Kevin gets here."

"Sounds like a plan."

"It's good to see you, Donnie. Take care of yourself."

Don nodded, telling his brother that he was going to try and take his advice. With that assurance, Richard turned around and left the room, leaving Don alone.

When the sound of the door shutting echoed through the room, Don looked down to where his wound was. The wound was the reason that he had finally spoken to his father after so many years. He didn't expect the conversation to be pleasant, and it wasn't. What he as surprised about was his father's display of emotion. It was rare for Donald Flack Sr. to show any other emotion besides austere. The moment threw Don for a loop, especially because the emotion that he felt was fear.

_I almost lost my son!_

The statement repeated in his head. His father, scared. The man that he thought wasn't afraid of anything. The phrase repeated until he fell into sleep, but even there, the words still replayed.

**Okay, I know that I've been away for a long time. I know this isn't an excuse but I'm taking a fiction class and that has been creatively draining. I had to write a short story and then get it workshopped. Utterly terrified about that. But thanks for sticking with me. I guess that this story is now AU? I haven't seen any of the new episodes but apparently Don has a sister. I don't think I'm going to integrate her into this story. I'm sorry if this isn't what you guys hoped, but I've set up a story without her. Thanks for sticking with me. Thanks for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I own the Flack men that haven't crossed the television screen. I also own the idea behind this story. Besides the characters you've never heard of before, I own nothing. **

Danny stood in the waiting area on Don's floor contemplating when he was actually going to take a step in the direction of his room. He'd been standing in the middle of it for at least ten minutes, receiving looks from doctors, nurses, and other people around the area. When the stares became too much, he headed down the hallway.

He stood outside of Don's room and looked through the glass. He saw that Don was awake and watching something on the TV. Danny knocked twice on the door. Don's gaze went to him and the injured detective smiled. He waved Danny in. Danny pushed open the door and sat in one of the chairs on the edge of the room. "How you doing, Flack?" he asked.

"I could really use a slice of pizza right now. Did you sneak anything in for me?"

Danny wasn't surprised when the first thing that the two of them talked about was food. "Nah, I thought that it'd help build character if you suffered with the hospital food for a little longer." He actually did think about bringing Don a burger or something, but decided against it. He didn't think that would go over too well with the doctors.

Don let out a short laugh. It was all that his injuries would allow. "That hurts, Messer. It really does."

"It's good to see you awake, Don," Danny said, changing the tone of the conversation.

"It's good to be awake."

"You are staying this way, aren't you?"

"From what the doctors say. I should be out of here in no time."

"I'm pretty sure the doctors didn't say that. You were in an explosion."

"Well, I'm walking out of here in a few weeks. Tops."

"That's if the doctors let you. But I don't know if they've ever come across someone as stubborn as you. I'm pretty sure you surprised all of them when you woke up as fast as you did." Danny took a breath and waited for a second before he started speaking again. "So how are you doing?" Danny asked.

"I really don't want to talk about my injuries right now."

"Fair enough. But you know that we'll talk about it eventually."

"So why talk about it now, then we won't have anything to talk about later." Don sighed and looked down at his lap. "I shouldn't even be alive, Danny," Don whispered. The mood in the room was somber. The realization hit the both of them.

"I know. I was there," Danny said. He chose his next words carefully, trying to decide how he was going to approach the situation. He went for light-hearted. "If you didn't pull through, I would've kicked your ass."

Don looked up at his best friend and laughed. "Thanks." It was for the subject change, and the honesty in the words.

"I would never forgive you if you left me alone with Mac and Stella."

"You have Lindsay."

"I guess. Yeah. But she ain't… I don't know," Danny stumbled through finding the right words to say. "I think I'm too unpredictable for her. I mean, she can handle me on my good days, but besides that."

"You have good days?"

"You're lucky that you're lying in that bed right now, because that deserves something."

"Raincheck," Don joked.

"Don, I'm sorry."

"For what, Messer?" Don could read the guilt painted all over Danny's face. "Are you talking about the fact that you didn't stay when everyone else did?"

Danny wondered for a second how he knew about that, but he figured that someone probably told him. "Yeah. I'm sorry, Flack. I just…"

"I understand. I would hate hospitals too if I was in your place."

"I really wanted to come back, but Lindsay made me go home." He paused to take a breath. "And I just cried. I just kept thinking."

"About."

Danny stood up from his seat and ran his fingers through his hair. He lifted his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. "How messed up it was that everyone I cared about was leaving me. First Louie. Then Aiden. Then you," he finished pointing to Don. He replaced his glasses.

"Louie's still here, Danny. And I haven't left. You know you can't get rid of me that easily."

"But that doesn't mean that you almost didn't." Danny took in a shaky breath and let it out. "Scared the crap out of me when you almost died."

"I figured." Don waited for Danny to say something, but he stayed silent. "But at least you were hhere when I woke up."

"For a second before you flat-lined."

"I couldn't control that. But you brought me back. Messer, you got a voice that can cut through death."

"You came back because you're tough, Don. Not because of me."

"You played a part. I think I came back because I don't think I could've dealt with Aiden tearing me a new one for leaving you."

"Aiden?"

Don ran a hand through his tousled hair. "You might think I'm crazy, but I talked to her."

Danny took his seat back on the chair. "Yeah, you sound a little crazy." He laughed.

"I know. But she told me about how you left the hospital."

"I was wondering how you knew about that."

"And she told me about how you brought Ella to see me." Danny bit his lip and looked away from his best friend. "What were you thinking bringing her here, by the way?"

"What did you expect me to do, Flack?"

"I don't know, leave her there."

"She's six years old."

"You know that means nothing when it comes to her."

"Yeah. I got that," Danny laughed. "So, where did you find her?"

"The bottom of a cereal box. Why, is she giving you a hard time?"

"Nah, it doesn't seem like it's in her blood."

"Don't let her innocence fool you, Mess. She can be a rascal."

"I haven't seen that yet, but I never expected anything less. She does spend a lot of time with you. She already has your stubborn streak." Don beamed proudly. Like a father would. And Danny saw it. "So, she isn't yours."

"No," Don said. "I mean, biologically, she's not mine. But deep down, I know that she's my responsibility. Like if something were to ever happen to her… She hasn't said anything to you, has she?"

"About what?"

"Nothing. Just forget I said that." Don let out a long sigh, hoping that she still didn't remember.

Danny wanted to ask what about that comment, but he let it go. "I got it, Don. It's between you and her."

Don was glad that Danny was so willing to accept a subject change. "But she's been behaving?"

"Like a little angel. So, maybe I should've seen it from that fact alone that she couldn't have been your child." Danny smirked.

"Funny, Danny."

"I like to think so." When Danny was done laughing, the room fell into silence. An awkward silence. Danny waited for Don to say something to break the silence, because he was so much better at it than he was. But Don didn't say anything. And Danny had some things that he wanted to ask. "Don?"

"Yeah."

"I'm not the last one to find out about her, am I?"

"Danny."

"Because I thought that we were friends. I mean, I try to tell you everything I can, but I feel like it's so one-sided sometimes. And this is one really big secret that you've kept."

"Messer, you aren't the last one to find out. There is no reason for my work life and hers to cross."

"But Aiden knew."

"Only because her car broke down," Don said. He needed to make Danny understand that it wasn't anything against him.

"And Mac and Stella don't know."

"No one besides Aiden knew about her. And now you." Don hoped that it was enough, because it was the truth.

"Would you have ever introduced me to her? I mean, without my car breaking down?"

"I don't know," Don said.

"I get it. I mean, it's her life. You want to protect her."

"Danny, don't be hurt. You have to know that if she really were mine, I'd tell you. I'd tell everyone." Don was about to say something else when he was interrupted by a knock on his door. He tried to see who it was, but Danny was standing in the way of the view. "Come in."

The door creaked open. "Don?" the person on the other side asked.

Danny moved out of the way so Don could see who it was. The injured detective's eyes widened. "Van?"

**So, here is the next chapter. I know that it went by a little fast, but I am way more excited about the next chapter. Also, I guess my story is AU now since I don't plan on adding the Flack sister into the story. Sorry. I'm so sorry about making you guys wait so long for this. But I've just been swamped. I've been toying around with what I want to do with this story, but now I know where I want this story to go now. Also, I think that I'm going with Chris Pine for the youngest Flack brother. Well, I hope this chapter turned out all right. Thanks for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer:** I own the idea of this story. I also own any character that hasn't actually been seen on the show.

Donovan Flack walked into the hospital room. Danny could see the unease in Don's brother in the way his shoulders slumped. As soon as he entered, his eyes went to the floor. The door closing seemed to echo throughout the room. "Hey," Van whispered.

Don stared at his brother, not really believing that he was right there standing in front of him. "What are you doing here?" Don asked when he finally got his voice to work.

"Um," he started. He started to shift where he stood. He still hadn't looked up. "I heard that you were in here. I thought that… never mind. I'll come back later." He spun and put his hand on the doorknob to let himself out.

"Van, get your ass in here," Don said before his brother could leave.

Van's hand dropped from the handle. He turned to his brother, eyes still glued to the floor. "Don, it's all right. I can see that you're busy. I'll come back."

"It's all right," Danny said. "I was just leaving." He could feel the unresolved tension between the two brothers. They needed to talk, and Danny wasn't going to stand in the way or in the middle of it.

Danny turned to head out of the room. "Wait, Mess." Danny spun around to look at his friend. "Before you leave. Donovan, this is my friend, Danny Messer. Danny, my little brother, Van."

Danny held his hand out to the younger Flack. "Heard a little about you," Danny said.

"Same here," Van said with a smile.

"Look, I'll let you two catch up. Take care of yourself, Flack. I'm bringing the young one tomorrow."

Before Don could say anything back to the CSI, he was out the door. Don stared at his brother who was pretty much in the same position as before. "So, are you just going to stand there or you going to come and give your brother a proper welcome?"

"What about your injuries?" Van asked.

"A handshake would do, Van." Van dragged his feet across the floor and held out his hand. Don grabbed his brother's hand and yanked him down. He brought his other hand behind his brother's head and brought it down. He kissed his brother on the forehead before he let him go. "It's good to see you, Van."

"It's been awhile, big brother." Van slid his hands into his pocket, putting up his guard.

"So, what brings you to this side of the nation? I thought that you were on another trek and it'd be awhile before I got to see you again."

"Richard called me. Twice. I got his messages. And all dad's calls and messages."

"You couldn't just answer the phone when he called?"

"And say what, Don?"

"I don't know. Anything. Just so they don't have to worry about you so much."

"I don't have to check in with them anymore. I can do what I want. I'm not four years old anymore, Don."

"Then stop acting like it. You can't keep ignoring your family."

Van threw his arms up and groaned. "I don't have to take this, Don."

"Okay then. Leave." The words left his mouth before he had the chance to stop. He knew he shouldn't have said them in the first place and he wanted to take them back.

Van's eyes went wide with shock. They were full of sadness. "Don, please. Not you too."

"I didn't mean it. I swear." Don paused, getting a rein on his emotions and his mouth. "Talk to me, Van. It's just me and you here. No brothers. No dad." Don didn't want to be lumped up with them.

"Like they care about what I do, anyway." Van backed up and parked himself in one of the chairs.

"Why wouldn't they? Van, you're our youngest brother."

"Can we not talk about that right now?"

"When, Van? When Jason and Kevin come over with sir and Rich? Then we can have a giant heart to heart. And we could have a group hug after? We need to have it now because you might be gone tomorrow."

"Don, I just can't."

"Why? Because they won't understand? Make them understand. Stop being selfish, Van."

"I'm not. I'm just tired of having to defend myself to them. To all of them. And I hate them looking at me like I'm the family disappointment."

Don stared at his brother. "They don't look at you that way."

Van threw his arms up, frustrated. "You don't look at me that way, Don. Just you. There's a difference. Look, I didn't come here to argue with you, Don. I came to see that you were alive." He rubbed his hands up and down his face trying to calm himself down.

The older Flack held up his arms as high as he could with his injuries. "Well, I am. You see me breathing." He winced as he brought his arms back down to rest at his sides.

"I can see that."

"So, does that mean you're leaving. You said your hello, now you're saying goodbye."

Van stood up and walked over to his brother's bedside. "I don't understand what you want me to do, Don."

"Van."

"Honestly, Don. I don't know what you want me to do."

"Donovan," he said, his voice rough. Don bit his lip when he realized that he sounded just like his father. "Van. I'm not here to fight with you. Even though that's we Flacks do best, especially with each other. I'm trying to tell you to stay awhile."

"I don't know about that."

"Are you going to see the family?"

"I don't think so," Van whispered.

"Why the hell not?"

"Don, I can't take them on without you."

"You're not even going to see mom?"

"Don, you know that if I see mom, she's going to make me stay. Then I'll have to see them." Van was torn. He really did want to see his mother, but it wasn't worth having to deal with all of the other males in his family.

"You can't keep running."

"I'll face them. But when I'm ready."

"When will that be?"

"Whenever it is, you'll be the first to know." He paused, taking a breath before he decided to change the subject. "I can't believe we're having this talk right now."

"I don't know why you're surprised, we always have this talk. Every time we see each other, we have this talk."

"But never this soon. And never in a hospital."

"Well, I never know when you're going to leave, and I can't make you stay in the condition I'm in. So I figured we had to have it as soon as possible," Don said with a small smile on his face. It faded slowly. "Van. Please, stay awhile. I mean, unless you have somewhere to be."

"Okay," he conceded. He really hated arguing and fighting with his brother. It was weird to him, since usually they were on the same side. The only time they fought, besides the fights that brothers are supposed to have, was when they had this conversation. "I'll rent out a hotel room."

"Don't be ridiculous. You're staying at my place. I can call Danny and ask him to bring the spare key over."

"He doesn't have to do that."

"Well, at least that way I know you're staying awhile. And I know I'll see you once more because you'll have to drop the key off to me before you drive away."

Van groaned. "Don. I already said that I'll stay."

"Van. I'm not holding a gun to your head." As much as Don wanted his brother to stay, he didn't want it to be a painful experience for him.

"I know. But you're my brother. And you asked me to stay."

"How long?"

"Long enough." That was the most honest answer that he could give. He didn't want to lie to his brother.

"That's it?" Don asked, wanting something more.

"Unless you have something else to say."

"Hand me the phone."

Van grabbed the hospital phone and gave it to his brother. He turned on the television and sat in one of the chairs at the edge of the room. Don dialed Danny's number. They spoke for a few minutes. Don hung up without saying goodbye.

Van pulled up a chair next to Don's bed, grabbed the remote, and channel surfed, looking for something for them to watch. He stopped on SportsCenter. Then they waited.

**Here is the next chapter. I don't really know what to say about it. Thanks for all of the great reviews even after I kept you guys wait for about eight months. I'm sorry. Well, I hope that this chapter turned out all right. Thanks for reading. Please review. Lil-Rock**


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